Schools inspector slams mobiles & the Net

Phones are a menace, the Web's a waste of time

Chris Woodhead has called for mobile phones to be banned from the classroom. The Chief Inspector of Schools yesterday described mobiles as a "menace" and said he would not allow them if he was a teacher. "I think the mobile phone is extremely disruptive and if I was still teaching and there were mobiles that ever rang in my classroom, I would want to know why," he said. "They've got an essential place in modern society but in the wrong place – restaurants and schools – they are a menace." Woodhead went on to say that much of Britain's youth were wasting their time surfing the Net, today's Metro newspaper reported. "They are doing what we used to do in the library – just copying out slabs of material without thinking about it." ® Related stories: Kids taught to use mobile phones Mobile phones are akin to cyanide, says academic