COPPERAS COVE, TX - The suspension of a Copperas Cove High School student, who answered a cell phone call from his father, a soldier deployed to Iraq, is drawing reviews from school districts in Bell County.

Again, another sign of how our culture is trying to adapt.  For many of us older teachers, cell phones are particularly annoying.  Seeing students walk down the halls with one at their ear really bugs me …..a lot!  But yet, they are a big part of their, and our, world.  For as much as we many wish, they are not going away.  So schools create policies and deal with the headaches they produce.  But I think the big issue is not the phone….most times it is never really the instrument…..it is the socialization behind it. 

Who told these kids it was ok to flip your phone open in the middle of class to accept a friend’s call?  Where did they learn this was an acceptable behavior?  I don’t think I taught that lesson.  So why have they become so engrained with the tought that they should be able to do what they want, when they want, where they want, without regard of anything or anyone else?

Back to the kid above…..yes, he broke a rule….but I think the punishment is extreme in such a unique case.  Here a father is fighting for our freedom in Iraq and we show our gratitude by suspending his son from school.   Maybe the father didn’t think about the time it was in the US…what if he’d been calling to say he was injured….perhaps dying….and this was his last chance to speak to his son?  Perhaps that is an extreme example, but I think it says a lot sometimes about how schools are so rigid and resistant to change.  Had I been the Principal, I might have asked to speak to the father and thanked him for what he was doing for our country.  I’ve rambled enough……