Plastered along almost every inch of empty wall space in Cherry Hill East, occupies a Red/Green Technology Zone sign. While these signs and initiatives are meant to strengthen the academic standards and have students “shut” off during class to completely focus instead of being engrossed in their social media haven. Students often fail to follow the rules, and while some teachers are indifferent about it, many have an outspoken opinion about students using technology while they are instructing.

Some teachers are very lenient about the subject and do not really have strong opinions on whether students pay attention or use their own phone and focus on that instead of the quality education they are failing to absorb. While to some teachers it is just a simple annoyance, to others it can strike a personal nerve.

“People who use their phones while a teacher is instructing and are not using it for educational purposes, it is distracting and you should give the teacher your undivided attention” said Mrs. Elizabeth Scharff, a Biology teacher at East. Students are not only distracted and unfocused when using their cell phones during class, but they are also being very disrespectful to a teacher who is taking his or her time to help them succeed.

As for all of the drawbacks for using cell phones in class, teachers have proven that they can be very useful in some classes, like Spanish for example. Often times, Spanish dictionaries are hard to locate words and may not be accessible for every student all the time during class.

“As long as they are using [cell phones] for educational purposes, they are great. In Spanish, the internet is a useful tool to [be able to] look up new vocabulary that a dictionary would not have because it is more current and cultural info. [Also] Socrative Quizzes (an online website) give their kids their own personal feedback to fine out their grade” said Spanish teacher Ms.Kelly Germscheid.

While many teachers have strict phone policies during class, Spanish tends to be a class that a cell phone with a 100gb sim plan may be necessary for academic purposes.

The evolution of technology has impacted our world tremendously. Students are better able to get instant information through high speed mobile phones and help themselves improve academic learning to ultimately achieve success.