Last updated April 12, 2019
Students within the Princeton Independent School District have been allowed the use of a new tool in the classroom, but not everyone is keen on the idea. Students in the Collin County community, which is east of McKinney, are now being allowed to use their new and old cell phones in order to be able to record what their teachers are telling them.
“My college professor told us to do whatever helps,” says Nicholas Vandergriff, a senior who is taking dual high school and college courses at Princeton High. He believes that being allowed to video his instructor aided him enormously. “So I videotaped his lectures and before finals I pull it out and everybody who did, got substantially higher grades.”
Not everyone is impressed however, with Larry Corner from the Association of Texas Professional Educators arguing that the use of the devices is just going to be yet another distraction that prevents students from being engaged with what is actually happening in the classroom. ATPE also has legal concerns about students posting videos that feature other students on the internet without having obtained parental permission to do so.
Princeton ISD Superintendant Phillip Anthony has dismissed the concerns, noting that students who abuse the privilege will be punished accordingly. “The cell phone camera will be used as an educational tool that will benefit students who miss class… or if there is a difficult math problem being worked out… students will have this visual reminder… The intent is to benefit the students.”