Question of the week: Should students be allowed to bring mobile phones to exams?
Zee Leung Man-chi, 16
Tang King Po School S
tudents should be allowed to bring mobile phone to exams. In my view, it's not necessary to ban mobile phones. Everyone knows that not all candidates who bring mobile phones into examinations will cheat. Sometimes, they have to use it before or after the exam for communication. If they were banned from bringing them, it would be unfair. On the other hand, some measures should be implemented to prevent students from using their phones to cheat. To stop the lure of cheating with mobile phones, the Hong Kong Examination Authority is planning to stop quoting the sources of exam materials. If there's no obvious way to cheat, then students cannot cheat. To check if someone is using a mobile phone in an exam, we should use the help of machines. It would be like an airport. Why don't we use machines to prevent the cheats from using their phones for personal advantage? Or maybe machines which can release electronic waves which interfere with wireless communication if it's being used in the toilet, for instance. I believe that most Hong Kong students are clever, honest and self-disciplined. Only the unwise minority would commit such a crime. I think to keep all the students happy, the authority should not quote the addresses on papers and also make use of machines to stop communication in toilets. If these measures were implemented, it wouldn't be necessary to ban mobile phones.
Patrick Lee Pak-chuen, 17
La Salle College
No, students should not be allowed to bring mobile phones to exams. Mobile phones are not a necessity in a student's daily life, especially when it comes to sensitive areas such as examination halls. Students may argue that they are being deprived their basic right of bringing a mobile phone to places such as examination halls. Others may argue that mobile phones are a must, because communication is essential in just that split hour. I am a strong believer that mobile phones should not appear in examination halls. Why do you need something that you couldn't even use in an examination hall? A 'cloakroom' for mobile phones could be set up outside examination halls by the Examination Authority so that students can leave their mobile phones outside the examination halls, a win-win situation! Students get what they want, which is a means of communication after their exams, and the Examination Authority could greatly reduce the number of cases that involve students cheating by using mobile phones. Technology advances a thousand miles per day, and we are now at the dawn of an information overload, where information is available anywhere and anyhow. Mobile phones are just a fraction of all the technological devices that students can use to cheat in exams. Other gadgets include watches and personal digital assistants. There is also the most conventional way of using scrap paper. As students, we should learn what is right and what is wrong, instead of being pre-occupied with our right to use a mobile phone during examinations. The mobile phone may be a 21st century product that allows us to communicate with our loved ones, but we can do that after exams.