A newly proposed regulation from the Osaka prefectural government would ban students from using cell phones at primary, middle and high schools. The draft proposal of the government's Education Resuscitation Council, established by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also recommends banning cell phones, a policy supported by the current Education Minister Ryu Shionoya.
The ban is an attempt to reduce bullying through cell phones and student-created Web sites, as well as to stem what the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Kunio Hatoyama called a "loss of humanity in users." These concerns are valid ones and education officials are clearly despairing over a serious problem made worse by tech-savvy youngsters.
However, a ban is not likely to produce positive long-term improvements. Banning cell phones does not succeed in teaching students how, when and where an adult would use a cell phone. The idea that schools can and should control all aspects of students' lives, whether clothing, conduct or attitude, with more and stricter rules is rather outdated. When such rules are imposed, students quickly learn fugitive skills: how to hide things, how to lie to teachers, how to skirt around the rules. In this techno age, rules are all the easier to break.