Failed For Possession Of Phone

from the might-be-a-bit-extreme dept

There have been plenty of stories about students caught cheating with a mobile phone. It's become increasingly common for schools to tell students not to bring phones into the exam room, or, at the very least, asking the students to put them in a designated spot. However, does it make sense to fail any student found with a phone without any evidence of cheating? That's what's happening in Scotland, where students who were found with phones in the exam room are about to find out they failed (apparently they weren't told at the time). It certainly will help to get the message across that phones are not welcome, but it seems a bit excessive for students who perhaps are just so used to having a phone on them that they forgot to leave it at home.
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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2005 @ 3:20am

    No Subject Given

    Sounds perfectly fair to me.

    Assuming most assessments in the UK are of the same arrangement to the ones i have taken part in they will ALL have had somewhere to put their mobile phones for safe keeping for the duration of the exam. Whether this is at the front with an invidulator or in a locked room outside, arrangements are made for personal posessions such as mobile phones to be stored safely. Many people have to show up to exams with personal posessions such as bags and phones if they are, for example, going to work straight after the examination ends but neither of these items are meant to be at anyones examination desk. To take your phone (against all instructions) with you to the exam and then to not put it in the designated safe keeping spot is just stupidity. There are always plenty of announcements before the exams reminding you to remove your phones from your pockets and to turn them off so how anyone can complain they did not remember is beyond me and whether the pupils planned on using the phones for cheating or not - they have still broken a clear term of the examination. Breaking any exam rules = failed and i dont see why this should be different

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Spunky, 1 Aug 2005 @ 3:30am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Perhaps things have changed since I did my A-levels and graduated from university (2001). But I have to point out two things:

    1. The designated place for your personal possesions was the floor at the back of the examination hall. Absolutely not secure in any way, shape or form considering you can be in a hall with literally two or three hundred other students, leaving at varying times.

    2. There was no policy to remove mobile phones from your person during the examination, only that the phone MUST be switched off.

    But like I said maybe they have changed these policies now.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    VonSkippy, 1 Aug 2005 @ 10:23am

    morons

    Stupid is as Stupid Does (or whatever the Forest Gump quote was). If they can't follow simple rules - flunk them. No sympathy here.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2005 @ 10:43am

    No Subject Given

    So why couldn't the test proctors have reminded people about the phone rule before hand? Because if they forgot about their phones, they were obviously so stupid they didn't even deserve to live.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Bob, 1 Aug 2005 @ 1:37pm

    Rules

    The article states, "Children are told well in advance that they cannot bring mobile phones into exams." It also says it warned that anyone found in possession of a mobile phone or other electronic device would have their entries “cancelled”.

    How many warnings need be given to be understood? A rule is a rule. If you refuse to abide by it, expect consequences to follow.

    The rule is sensible and correct, as cell phones today serve as much more than simple communication devices. They have calculators, cameras, microphones and all manner of gadgets tacked on, any of which could provide an unfair advantage.

    If they do not enforce the rule it becomes toothless, and sends the message to others that it's o.k. to violate it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2005 @ 2:39pm

    Re: Rules

    Absolutely. Teach them a lesson.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    gyefinger, 1 Aug 2005 @ 6:17pm

    No Subject Given

    I went through all my years of schooling with no phone. What do you need a phone at school for?

    Just a thought. Probably the same reason you need one while you are driving....you don't...!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Aug 2005 @ 3:18am

    Re: No Subject Given

    sadly times have changed, you'l be hard pushed to find a school kid without a mobile now. You may say that you didnt need one when you was at school but they ARE "needed" now. Its just another new technology thats found its way into the modern home. You could easily use the "i didnt need one" argument on computers, tv, radio as people managed perfectly ok without them before they became common place but now... they are everywhere! The point is, this new technology is here now and its been made perfectly clear to anyone taking an exam that it is not particularly welcome in the exam hall and a failable offence to be seen with one in your pocket while at the exam desk. Just like any other rule - chose to ignore it and you should pay the consequences. People shouldnt need reminding what the laws of the exam are. Ok, so this is an extreme example but how many people get told by a policeman "remember, you cant shoot anyone" but still the majority of intelligent people have no trouble remembering its illegal !!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    gyefinger, 28 May 2008 @ 12:14pm

    Re: Re: No Subject Given

    "but they ARE "needed" now." ---only because you say so.

    "you'l be hard pushed to find a school kid without a mobile now." ----that may be true but that goes the same for tattoos, they are still not "NEEDED".

    I didn't say they were not useful,(i have one, a phone not a tatt) they are a nice have but not "NEEDED" to learn. Just as they are not "NEEDED" to drive. This will never change..just cause you can doesn't mean you should and in this case it is applicable.

    I see lots of people hiking(in the woods) and talking on their cell phones(not calling in an emergency)--this is not only wrong but friggin disrespectful of people trying to get away from that sort of thing. the reason it is that way is no one says anything to that person--they take the attitude that ---well thats jus the way it is----only cause you let it be that way. say something!!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]


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