The Bloke

Australian, no, Queensland correctness takes another turn............


http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au...17_hpnews.html

jad n rich

Kids high school has totally banned mobile phones. Harassment of teachers, kids posting vids on ut etc, given as the reason. BUT many kids ride home alone, plenty of cases of kiddy prowlers noted in all areas including this one, 13 yr old boy was abducted and never found.... If our kids ride its 7klm, now supposed to do it without the security of mobile phone link to adult in case of emergency

renth

That's harsh, they could at least ban them being switched on on school premises. Are you referring to Daniel Morcombe's disappearance? That's pretty disturbing.

The Bloke

His disappearence was not related to any school decision, though.

jad n rich

Yes. The person (s) responsible for his disappearance have not been found....
DM actually at one stage attended the primary school attached to the high school thats banned the phones so seems even more absurd as the dangers should be well known. He disappeared in the school holidays, however that seems pretty irrelevant somebody is still out there who likes young boys ... along with thousands of other kid perverts.

The Bloke

Personnally, due to the number of serious assaults at different schools that have been posted on YouTube by students taking pics on there phones, I can see why they have banned mobiles, although your arguement does have a point too.

Pollyana

Thats insane - my sister would go mad if they did that at the kids' school - 45 minute trip on the bus, and they need to let her know which bus they are on, so they don't have a long walk home from the bus stop.

Fair enough, switch them off in class, but to ban them could be dangerous in the long run.

moneypenny20

They should have to turn them off, not on silent during school hours. I had to text first born about something, assuming she'd pick it up at lunch. She got home and blamed me for getting her into trouble. Her phone had gone off when my text arrived! Duh!

Walking or bussing too and from school they have to have their phones or the school would have a lot to answer for.

annqldau

hmmm...what did we do in the days before mobile phones

ozzieeagle

I would definitely ignore that ruling, tell my kids to keep the phones hidden, and if the school found out and actioned it, really kick up a huge stink. Including lawyers if need be.

JR230898

A long walk home from a bus would be beneficial to all of us.

Is it true that paedophilia has only become a problem with the advent of mobile technology? Whatever did we do before mobile phones?

Yes, we should protect our children, but a big part of that can be better achieved by thinking of how we conduct ourselves. Why don't we walk together? Someone who is going to assault a child is not going to be perturbed by the child having a mobile phone.

If you wanted to be rational....and look at the real risks involved with this child making it's way home....statistically....the most dangerous part of the journey is the act of picking him up in the car from the bus stop and driving him home. Who disagrees?

Is it easy for people to understand how perception and fear causes irrational behaviour? Get a control of yourself and your fears, live your life more rationally, and enjoy.

spartacus

Nice.

ozzieeagle

In our case one of us wouldnt be able to work,.... at that time.....

Kids 15 and 11 can be trusted for a short say a couple of hours with phone contact, but not necessarily without it

moneypenny20

No one's being irrational. All your points are salient ones but there are always exceptions and in the days before mobile phones there were (where I lived anyway) far more buses, lots of phone boxes and lots of kids going in the same direction. I would not be happy my kids having to do their journey to and from school without a mobile phone and I am not an irrational parent. I expect my kids to use common sense and have exercise and as much freedom as I can offer them. Everyone with common sense knows there is no more or less paedophilia or abductions now.

The argument about not having mobile phones then is daft. We didn't have lots of things back when we were kids that we now wouldn't want to live without, doesn't mean jack shit. We have them now and use them.

ozzieeagle

I'm personally not that worried about child molestors, I'm sure there is little if any difference in the activities of kiddy fiddlers now and say 30 years ago, it's entirely possible there is less of a prevelance now because of public awareness.

However with this mobile phone ban, I reckon I've got the right to insist that my children have them available outside of school hours. Having thought about this situation for a little while now, what the hell are school lockers all about, surely if a child locks their phone away in a school locker, and keeps it there during school hours then that would be 95 pct of the problem solved.

Strange that this issue should come up this week, because I'm considering letting my 15 YO pick up our 11 year old, in the next suburb and travel home by tram, on the proviso that they are contactable 100 pct of the time. Gives me a precious hour or thereabout of extra time per day, saves me money in petrol, and gives my 15 yo extra pocket money. I would only be letting this happen if my 11 YO had a mobile on him as well, so this issue is really pertinent to me.

It's a freedom issue, in my opinion.

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