Wrong Issue

This story, as horrible as it is, ends with a very misleading quote at the end.

Herrera said the violence could have been prevented if the school had enforced its cell phone ban.

I think this quote points at the wrong issue. Yes, the student used her cell phone to call her mom into the school and solve her issues with violence, but she could have also told her mom once she got home from school. The cell phone only sped up the process.

I see 2, maybe 3 issues here - none of which are centered on cell phones.

1. The mom in this story has some serious anger management issues. I mean, come on - attacking someone and yelling profanities in front of kids? Way to be a role model there. Your "Mom of the Year" nomination is a sure thing.


2. Behavior issues with the daughter. Repeatedly interrupting the class? Calling someone on a cell phone in class? Not exactly gold star behavior.


3. Classroom Management issues with the teacher(?) I add this as a "maybe" because the information on how this teacher conducts her class is not present. I've no idea what strategies she used. Perhaps she tried various methods to diffuse the situation and calm the daughter (and later, the mom) down. Perhaps the methods she tried did nothing, perhaps they made things worse. Goodness knows I've been teaching long enough to see all three of those outcomes happen to me - although not nearly to this extreme.

Is it too much to ask that a news story portraying an all-around-bad situation not have anything in it that blames the technology along with (or instead of, in some cases) the people using it?