Does a grade schooler need a cell phone at school?

After the Columbine shooting, people saw that the kids with cell phones were able to communicate with the authorities outside and get help or be told what to do better than the kids without. Before then everyone understood that cells and pagers were used by the drug using kids and delinquents to 'get together' and weren't appropriate for school, and if anyone was found with one it was almost always taken by the teacher for the duration of the school year EVEN if the kid didn't use it unless they had a medical condition that required them to be in 24/7 contact with their parents. Since then though the idea that cell phones make kids safer has grown momentum until it's very common for a kid to have a cell on them (powered off) during school hours "just in case." Since I don't have a cell phone and don't like cell phones, I consider it JUST a little phobic and distrustful of the school, the kids around them, and helicoptering to think that you have to be in contact with your kid 24/7. Also, the phones of the Columbine shooting (owned by spoiled rich kids by the way) didn't text, take pictures, or the million other things that many phones do today. The chances of a kid misusing a phone are FAR FAR higher than them being in a situation where it will help them. In fact the chances of a kid using a phone to attract unwanted attention, or looking at porn, or getting in with the wrong crowd, is far higher than a shooting which, while it's not an impossibility, is still an extremely slim to nothing chance of it happening and the phone they're carrying saving them. "Well, I put a limit on it so that they can only call emergency and me during school hours..." So you're basically telling them that if an emergency happens then they can't depend on the teachers? Nice. It also annoys me that things like texting during a test to cheat, not using a REAL calculator but a phone, not using a REAL dictionary or learning how to flip pages and look up a word but type it in and get the definition, are replacing things. A cell won't protect your child from a kidnapper. Friends or just neighbors all walking in a semi-formal to formal group will.

My generation didn't have them and my children never had them. What possible reason would they need them for now? You don't need a cell phone for a tracking device so that's not an excuse to have one either.

I feel that no children under the age of 18 yrs old should have a cell phone, because kids are not really responsible, and if the parent is that concerned about her young kids, then she should be with them when they go to school and come home from school, and when the child grows up and gets on his own then that child or young adult can get his own cell phone, because why i feel this way?? is Kids abuse the cell phone, they also call long distance, and don't realize who they are calling, and that, they text other kids while in school, and they trade phones, and they get lost or broken, and you will end up paying more fro a month then the actual bill on the phone, even teenagers, seem like adults, seem like the know and have knowledge to a cell phone, but guess what, they text way too much, they also abuse the system of a regular cell phone

It depends. I got a cell phone in 7th grade, when I was 13, because I played on the softball and basketball teams, and was in a science club. I would use the phone to tell my mom if a practice was cancelled, cut short, or would be a little longer then expected. That is the only reason I got a phone, so I could inform my parents of where I was and so I could reach them. No elementary school student should need a cell phone. Schools are safe, and usually there are kids in the neighborhood your child can walk home with. Maybe if you live in a bad neighborhood, or if your child has a long walk, a cell phone would be a good idea. A kidnapper would definitely get rid of the phone.

No, and I'm not planning on getting my daughter a cell phone until she's working and can contribute to the bill. I will treat a cell phone as a "responsibility" item (like a car), not a necessity, and if she wants one she will have to earn it and be responsible in using it. In the meantime, if she needs to use the phone (or car), she can use mine. As far as phones in school, I think it would be a distraction, akin to taking a video game to school.

My kids share a cell phone but with the upcoming school year they will not be taking it with them. The teachers at school can handle emergency situations and then its your responsibility to have proper care for them the moment they step out of the school building.

Oh.my.god are you kidding me ? Of course they need it ! I mean .. I would want my kid watching Bowie videos and informing me thru texts if a new Bowie video has been uploaded instead of paying attention to class. Why hasn't this occurred to anybody? Pfft...

No. unbelievable to think otherwise. This mentality is the obedience to self inflicting body chip installation.

Depends where you live and how sensible they are i don't think they need one unless their parents are split up or until high school.