Acting as Council members, HS students just barely support cell phone rights

Posted by Philissa at 10:32 AM

I've been meaning to note for the last week an interesting article in the Times about CUNY's Model City Council program. Kids from around the city, drawn from those enrolled in College Now courses, learn about city governance, represent their districts, and debate the same issues as the real City Council. Recently, the model council voted on the cell phone bill that generated so much friction between the council and Mayor Bloomberg this past summer. But unlike the real council, which voted almost unanimously to give students the right to carry phones to and from schools, the model council was divided, passing the bill by only one vote. Was this a case of kids adopting an exaggeratedly adult mindset, or do many students actually think there's merit to the cell phone ban? I'd love to know.