In the age of communication, a restriction on the use of cell phones seems like a move in the wrong direction. The news is slowly beginning to break to the students of Scituate High School that cell phones will no longer be the focus of your 63 minutes in class anymore: Learning will be. If Mr. Wargo has his way, the so-called “cell-phone hotels” will be implemented into every classroom, because, according to Wargo, the current cell phone policy is “more of a distraction than we thought it would be.” Prying kids away from their first love is going to be a much more difficult task than the administration is currently thinking.

With the reveal of the possible new legislation at SHS, a mutiny seems to be on the horizon. The angry sailors of SHS have already rumored ideas of how to bend the rules on this new rule. With the breaking of the news to students, the most common reaction was, besides the jaw drop, “I’ll just give them my old broken phone.” The new year hasn’t even started yet and there are already visible issues with this idea. Not only does the student body seem to resent it, they are refusing to follow it and are already finding ways around it.

SHS is filled with responsible young adults who keep their phones secured in their pockets or backpacks. Because of a few addicts who are disrespectful in class, the entire student body is being negatively impacted. If Mr. Wargo and the rest of the staff want the cell phone usage to decrease while keeping a non-hostile environment, they may want to rethink their new rule. A punishment for those who have done nothing wrong is an illegitimate way to punish those who have. The school does not need to categorize the entirety of the student body into one because of the few who refuse to do the right thing. This new rule cannot pass and cannot be implemented. It will be detrimental to the learning environment.

A possible alternative could be taken: Punish those who deserve to be punished. If a student has been told to put their phone away in class three times over the course of a term, then for the rest of the term it should go into the “hotel.” At the end of the term the strikes reset and the bad students are given the opportunity once again to join the good students. Don’t punish the undeserving. Don’t take the easy road, administration.