The recent story about a 12 year old boy in the states who had his mobile confiscated and searched after it rang in a class, highlights a growing problem in schools, not only in the USA, but also in the UK. A Mississippi pupils mobile phone was confiscated, and subsequently searched by the schools staff, and Mississippi authorities. The search uncovered photos of the boy and some friends dancing in a gang related fashion, complete with BB gun. This was enough to seal his fate, and be expelled. Whether this was the only reason for the expulsion, or simply the straw that broke the proverbial camels back is not clear.
This does throw up some interesting questions though regarding the proliferation of technology in schools, and the use of existing rules and regulations that may be out of sync with today’s world. In the past, it was the case that if there was suspicion that you had alcohol, tobacco or pornography on you, or in some locker, that you could be subject to have your locker searched, or indeed your pockets rifled through. The justification being that these are not allowed on school premises, and therefore you are in breach of the rules and open to whatever consequences there may be.
Let’s then apply those same rules to a mobile phone or a laptop. It’s fair to concede that your bottle of vodka, or copy of Girlie World never had the capacity to contact home, or contained any personal information about yourself, or your friends, and certainly never gave any clue about personal preferences for religion, sexuality, or political leaning, save the type of pornography you might be looking at. Today, our lives, thoughts and dreams are often given away in our browsing history, or our blog entries, the music we have, and our photos. Contact us, and you might leave us messages that could be misconstrued in any number of ways.
So when a member of teaching staff, or any authority for that matter goes into your computer, they are looking at a world that is far more personal than the contents of your locker. This then begs the question, should anyone have the right to go this deep into our lives, no matter how old we are, or where we are? This question is being looked at by a court in the US, and its findings should prove interesting. Schools may argue they have a duty of care to the children who may see the offending articles, but do the ends still justify the means?
As the world shrinks, and home and work get closer should the actions of school staff be looked at when it comes to technology? With the Internet now coming in on USB dongles and mobile phones, many of the traditional mechanisms for blocking access to the less salubrious parts of the web are becoming more and more ineffective. Should schools perhaps look at tackling this with education, rather than trying to control a world that is becoming more and more uncontrollable?
One thought on “Students mobiles fair game for searches?”
I think it is outrageous that anyone’s phone should be searched, particularly in a school setting, where the pupil in question has no ability to defend themself and their phone.
Things found can often be misconstrued and totally out of context. If this then leads to further punishments and sanctions, within or outside of school, then it is particularly bad.
One consideration, is whether the teachers have the right to confiscate of not, and under what egis??
If the pupil in question knew they had material on their phone that could be seen as bad by the school, then surely it is their own fault if they have their phone confiscated for using it in a lesson…
Long has it been the case that teachers confiscate things, but that is as far as it should go. It should not extend to a search of the phone in question.
Here, comes in the joint points of double jeopardy and privacy, no matter what sort of “health and safety”, “duty of concern and protection” and “its for your own good” spin the school put on it.