Engage Them, Don't Enrage Them

"Engage Them, Don't Enrage Them" (CDEs and Cell-Phones)

I heard the above quote from a speaker, last fall, that spoke how almost all high school students have cell phones, and almost all schools have rules against the possession and/or use of cell phones.

Ironically, our oldest son received a detention a couple of years ago when my wife accidentally called his cell phone to remind him to pick up his brother from the elementary building.  Unfortunately, she thought school got out at 3:12 PM, but she called a couple of minutes before he got out of class.  Though he did not answer his phone, he received a detention because his cell phone rang, in his pocket.  As parents that work away from the home, and in different towns, we rely on cell phones to communicate with our kids.

Quite honestly, cell phones with stored phone numbers are very powerful communication tools.  I have also thought that we should incorporate a cell-phone component in our FFA CDEs.  Think of a very challenging question, then have the students whip out their cell-phones and solve the question by calling anyone.  The student with the largest list of contacts would probably win.  This is what happens in the real world, if you don't know the solution to a problem, you find someone to help you solve the problem.