Argumentative Essay

During the Ramadhan, I did writing to my 5 Bestari on an argumentative essay with the topic of Yes or No to bringing handphone to school.

Brainstorming session

A very slow process. Maybe because of the insufficient flow of oxygen in their brains due to fasting. What they came out with were these:

Advantage: (1) for emergency. (2) phone usage such as calculator and converter may help in lessons.

Disadvantage: (1) distraction. (2) phone misuse (pornography, cheating in exam). (3) social problems (theft, bullying).


Writing first draft

An arduous task. It took them 2 lessons to complete their first draft. Two groups even had to do 'ketuk-ketampi' for not handing in their essays on time. Nevertheless, they managed to complete the draft successfully.


Peer discussion

A copy of the group's essay was given to the other groups for peer correction. They underlined and gave suggestions for the other groups' first draft. The copy was then given back to the original group. They made correction where they thought suitable and returned the original essays to the teacher for marking.


Teacher's correction

My turn to make all the remaining corrections. Here are their essays. My choice is Group 5. How about you? Read all before deciding :)


Group 1

Yes or No to bringing handphone to school

Nowadays, people, especially students, are desperately crazy about getting their hands on the variety of handphones such as Iphone or the Galaxy Notes. However, there are advantages and disadvantages of bringing the handphone to school. 

For one thing, handphones can make the lesson easier. A handphone has a lot of usages. For example, students can use the handphone to calculate in Mathematics lesson by using the calculator function. Furthermore, the students can also listen to music to release the tension during recess. 

On the other side of the coin, bringing handphone to school may invite the phone misuse. Taking and sharing inappropriate graphic materials is one of the misuses of handphone. Irresponsible students like to download and share the explicit materials although the materials are not suitable for them. Besides, it can help students to cheat in examinations easily. So, the increase in their marks means nothing because it does not show their true academic performance. Thus, there is no guarantee for the students to have a bright future.

Secondly, bringing handphone to school is very important because it can be used for emergency. For instance, when fire happens at school, the parents can call their children and ask about their condition. Besides, it can also be used when students are sick at school. They can call their parents to tell them about their health. They can also use their handphone to call their parents when they are late to return home. 

Meanwhile, bringing handphone to school can cause many social problems. Problems like bullying and theft will arise because of the handphones. If the senior students see that their juniors are bringing more expensive handphones to school, they will feel threatened. As a result, they try to seize the handphone forcefully. Theft or stealing may also happen when a student carelessly leave his handphone in the classroom.

On top of that, handphones will become a distraction in the student’s lesson. New messages or incoming calls will surely distract the student’s focus on what the teacher is saying in front of the class. Their brain cannot cope with doing two different things at the same time. 

In a nutshell, whether bringing the handphone to school is good or bad highly depends on how the students use it. Unfortunately, their immature behaviours are not suitable for this privilege because if you give them an inch, they will take a yard. Thus, the government should not allow the students to bring the handphone to school.

Group 2

Yes or No to bringing handphone to school

The handphone is on everybody’s lips nowadays. It is such as a wonderful tool for education, work, information and play that sometimes we wonder how we survived before this. Some people call it the eighth wonder of the world while others think of it as disruptive. So, does a handphone become a wonderful tool or a disruptive tool at school?

For one thing, handphone can be used for emergency calls. When a student feels sick or involved in an accident, the teacher may quickly call the student’s parents and tell them about their son’s condition. This is because the parents’ numbers will already be in the student’s phonebook and the teacher does not have to waste time searching for it in the school students’ database.

On the other side of the coin, bringing the handphone to school may cause unwanted distractions. Students can easily lose focus in their lesson when they receive new messages or have incoming calls. The school may instruct the students to turn off their handphones during lesson but, in reality, there are not many students who really adhere to school rules and regulations.

Secondly, there are many useful functions for the handphone. It can normally become a calculator, a music player and also a unit converter. Sometimes, students use the handphone to calculate numbers in their Mathematics lesson, and some other times, they use it to convert numbers from meters to inches in their Science lesson. 

On the other hand, the students act immaturely and misuse the handphone functions. There are many instances where students use the handphone to take and share pornographic pictures or videos. Irresponsible students might also use their handphone to cheat in examinations. What is more with the handphone’s ability to store so much information in its memory card, the students can put the whole text books in it!

Moreover, the adverse effect on students when they use a handphone at school is the increase of social problems. For instance, when a student brings an expensive handphone to school and his friend is jealous of him, theft or stealing may happen. This kind of social problem will only add to the many socials problems already at school. 

In a nutshell, bringing handphone to school will only become a tool of destruction instead of a tool of construction. Therefore, it is better to leave the handphone at home. 

Group 3
  

Yes or No to bringing handphone to school

Nowadays, handphone usage is popular among the students. Every student wants his or her own handphone. Moreover, the phone has many usages apart from just being a tool in communication. Students use it in nearly everything they do and they cannot be separated from their handphones even for a second. The interesting news is handphones can now be brought to school. Is it really a good idea?

For one thing, handphone can be used when there are emergency cases. For example, students can use the handphone to contact their parents when someone disturbs them. Additionally, when they have an extra class, they can inform their parents that they will be late in returning home. So, their parents will not be worried and waste their time waiting for their children.

However, handphone usage in the class will distract students from concentrating in the lesson, especially when they receive text messages or calls while the teacher is teaching. Their fragile concentration will also be disturbed when some boring students start playing phone games or surf the Internet. 

Secondly, handphone has many useful functions such as being a calculator or a unit converter. Students can use these functions to help them in their lesson. Besides, handphone can be used to release their tension by listening to the music while teachers are not in class or during the recess.

However, there are also tendencies to misuse the handphone. Students might use their handphone to take or share pornographic pictures or videos. What is more, they can also use the handphone to cheat in examinations. 

In addition, bringing the handphone to school may increase social problems such as bullying and theft. Bullying usually happens when the senior students discover that their juniors bring more expensive handphones to school. They will think that it degrades their reputation. As a result, they will try to take the handphone by force. Furthermore, students who are careless and put their handphones everywhere will invite thefts. This will bring more unwanted problems to school. 

In conclusion, bringing the handphone to school is not a good idea whatsoever. The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. With our students’ immature and irresponsible attitude, the handphone will quickly become a tool of destruction. So, in order to prevent this from happening, it is best to prohibit the handphone usage in school.

Group 4

Yes or No to bringing handphone to school

Bringing handphone to school is happy news to student because they like it very much. With the advance in handphone technology, is it possible to bring handphone to school? Like everything else, there are advantages and disadvantages. I feel that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.

For one thing, handphone can be used to make emergency calls. For example, students can call their parents when they want to return home early if they are sick at school. On top of that, they can call their parents when they want to return home late after school because of the extra class or co-curricular activities.

On the other hand, using handphone during school will cause distraction. Students who use the handphone during lesson will lose their concentration. For example, when their teacher is teaching, they use the handphones to text someone. As a result, they will lose concentration to what the teacher is saying. They will also lose their focus if they are concentrating on the lesson and a new message suddenly shows on the screen.

Secondly, using handphones can help students in studying. For example, the students can use the calculator function of the handphone during Mathematics lesson. Besides, students can also use the unit converter to convert numbers from meter to inch. Furthermore, students can also listen to music when the teacher is not in class while doing their work or at the canteen while having their meals.

However, there is a tendency of students misusing their handphone. It usually happens when they use the handphone for useless or dangerous information. For instance, they download pornographic videos or pictures and share them with their friends.

Moreover, bringing handphone to school will give rise to social problems such as bullying and theft. Bullying sometimes can cause death. It happens when students want to take other students’ handphone. In addition, the students who leave their handphone everywhere can cause theft.

In a nutshell, bringing handphones to school is not good for students because handphones can make students unable to focus on the lesson. Moreover, it adds to the long list of social problems which the school already has.

Group 5

Yes or No to bringing handphone to school

In this globalisation era, people feel like handphone is the basic need in their life. It is the trend these days, especially for teenagers and students, to desperately get their hands on the latest handphone so that they will not lose to their friends. But the question is should the students bring their handphone to school?

For one thing, students can use the telephone during emergency cases which may occur anytime. So, students must take precaution in order to help them whenever they become sick at the school, have to return home late because of extra class or involve in accidents. 

On the other hand, if we bring handphones to school, many social problems may occur such as bullying and theft. Poor students who are unable to buy a high quality handphone which may cost more than a thousand will resort in bullying with the purpose of seizing the expensive handphone from the rich students. Other than that, the problem of theft in school will increase because, instead of money, there will be handphones for the taking. It absolutely will waste teacher’s time and energy in finding the culprits.

Secondly, bringing handphone to school is important for the lesson. The functions of the handphone such as being a calculator or a converter are important to students. Students can also surf the Internet to find important information for their lesson. They can finish their homework and projects that need them to surf for information. The development of the technology may enable students to surf the Internet anywhere. Thus, they can get benefits from this technology if they use the handphone for good purposes.

However, phone misuse will definitely occur when the students bring their handphone to school because of the teachers’ inability to observe all the students at school all the time. With the latest technology in many gadgets that are in the market nowadays such as Ipad, Iphone, and Android, students can easily get negative information from the Internet. This may occur in the form of inappropriate graphic materials. Irresponsible students download them and share them with their friends. In addition, students can also cheat in their examination by misusing this technology.

When all is said and done, it is confirmed that there are many disadvantages of bringing handphone to school as opposed to its advantages. Students need to benefit from this technology in a good way and must not misuse the technology to do negative things but, unfortunately, their young minds still cannot tell the difference between both.

Group 6

Yes or No to bringing handphone to school

In this era of globalization, where the world is getting smaller, handphone is on everybody’s lips more than McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is such a wonderful tool for communication, education, work, information and play that sometimes we wonder how we survived before this. Some people call it the eighth wonder of the world while others condemn it as disruptive.

For one thing, bringing handphone to school has its advantages. For example, it can be used in case of emergency. If the students are in a dangerous situation like being alone at the bus stop or threatened by other students, they can call their parents or the police for help. The handphone will also become handy if they are going to be late because of the extra class or co-curricular activities.

However, handphone may cause distraction for student in the class. During the lesson, pupils will not concentrate on what the teacher is saying because they can be very enthusiastic in meddling with their handphone, either texting their friends or playing games. During examination times, teachers do not want the pupils to be distracted, so allowing handphone in classroom will defeat this purpose ultimately.

Secondly, using handphone can help students in their study. The students can use the dictionary in the handphone to find meanings for difficult English words. There are also many useful applications in the handphone such as calculators, Internet browsers, cameras and music players.

However, phone misuse may happen. Irresponsible students search the Internet for useless information or inappropriate materials and share these materials with their friends. Another thing is, students might use the phone to cheat in the examinations.

Moreover, many social problems such as theft will arise when students bring their handphone to school. For instance, a rich student brings an expensive phone to school. When someone knows about this and steals the phone, the victim will report this matter to the teacher. Thus, the school has to waste time and make an unnecessary spot check in order to find the culprit and the handphone.

In a nutshell, whether bringing handphone to school is good or bad depends on how the students use it. Unfortunately, the students nowadays have the tendency to misuse the handphone because of their immature minds. If you give them an inch, they will take a yard. Therefore, school should not allow the students to bring their handphone to school because it may cause more harm than good.