Every so often, my English teacher will ask us a random question and he will ask us to take a side: Strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree.

So, I thought it might be a good idea to share these with my friends at Vizzed.
Should parents have a right to take away their children's cell phones?
Well there's the topic. Just state your side and back it up with some reasoning.
At the end of the debate, my teacher tells us to change positions if we have been swayed by the other groups. Towards the end of the debate you can go ahead and do that.
Feel free to ask questions to another group to either help clarify why they are in that group or to show what they may be thinking. For example: So what if the parents don't have a good reason to take away the cell phone? What f they just feel like being mean to their kids?

I'll start. 

I strongly agree because most of the time the parents pay for the phone, or monthly payments, so it's kind of their phone.
Another great argument brought up in the class is that the phone could be getting in the way of school. They could be texting in class or playing games when they should be learning.

I'm going to leave some room for everyone else to debate.

I think that unless the child has payed for all of the phone and everything surrounding it then the parents have no right. Though if the child has not payed for it the parents have every right.

Strongly agree.

Even if the kid payed for it, I'm assuming the parents had a good reason for taking it away (kid is grounded, has bad grades, etc.), and the cell phone is a portal to the outside world. So, yeah, they should have the right to take it away, no matter what. Unless it's for a stupid reason or something, but I'm not in the parent's shoes so I wouldn't really know what was a good decision and what was a stupid one.

Having a cell phone is a privilege not a right so taking one away is perfectly justifiable in my opinion.

Obviously you wouldn't do it for no reason. And really, unless you want your kid to hate you then you would have a pretty good reason for taking the cell.

Taking away a cell phone from a child is like taking away milk from a baby. Good luck with that What if one day your child doesn't show up at home after school? I guess you are out of luck because you decided it was a good idea to eliminate communication from your kids. The only reason why phones are a problem is because of all the crap on them. If phones had no internet, games, texting, or apps it wouldn't be a problem. If the child uses phone in class then that is not a phone issue, your child just lacks discipline and manors.

It's like me having a lighter and cigarettes in my pocket in class. If I light up and smoke in class should I blame the cigarettes? No. So why would you blame the phone? Blame your child or yourself for lacking common sense.

I'm fine with parents taking a cellphone away. They are the legal guardians (at least in America) So they can do what ever they want unless its abusive. Plus, cellphones in the hands of teenagers do more harm than good so I'm even more fine.

I strongly agree, but I think it matters on what purpose the cell phone has. If the cell phone is strictly for a kid/teen to keep in contact with his or her parents then there should be no reason to take it away. If the kid/teen is allowed to use the cell phone to talk with friends, play games, etc. then the parents should take it away when they see it being used when it shouldn't be.

What if the teen is paying for the phone service? Parents, I don't think you should have given your kid the opportunity in the first place. That, to me, is too much freedom for someone of a younger age. If your child is going to be paying for his or her own phone line, your child better prove to be responsible enough to know when not to use it.

I also agree. Even if the kid is paying for it (which unless they have a job, I seriously doubt). It is no different than parents grounding kids from video games, which includes the video games that they bought with their own money. You live with your parents, you follow their rules. Plain and simple. A good solution to parents grounding kids from their cellphones is that they don't do something to get grounded in the first place.

All parents should know what is right for their kids, so if they feel they need to take a kid's phone away they should be able to.

Why does the kid have a phone in the first place? That is my question. You want your kid to have a phone to get in contact with them, get them a cheapy little Go Phone with no special features, just calling. What is that one old person phone... the Jitterbug or whatever? Yeah, get them that... I don't even think it can receive texts.

That aside, yeah I totally agree. If the kid is acting up, the parents have the right to take the phone away because 9 times out of 10 the parents are the one that paid for both the phone and the service. And the whole "oh if they don't come home what will you do" thing is utter crap because if kids are pissed at their parents then they aren't going to answer that call if they do have the phone. I've seen it more than once.

Now, if the kid is 16+, and is working, and bought the phone and pays for the phone out of their own money... then I am not as in favor of just taking the phone away unless it is causing some serious problems (like you got a ticket for driving and texting, or your failing classes, running up huge bills that you can't pay, etc etc)... then, yeah take it away. You cannot buy a cell phone plan unless you are over the age of 18, so the parents are still the one who get the bills, which makes that last example a perfect reason to take the phone away. The kid proved that they are not responsible enough to have the phone, so they lose it. Now, if the parents take it away in a case like this and the phone has nothing to do with it, or if it is a non-issue (like going over the minutes but paying for it with no trouble) then I think that is not okay.

When they go overboard with buying ringtones or just doing stuff they shouldn't they have the right to, but if they just want to, that should not be allowed.

Yes. They're probably the ones who bought it and they probably pay for the place that you live in. I'd say they have the right to do most things that they see fit. Just think about it from their perspective.

Alright, alternate question time!
"Should the child have a right to fight to get their phones back?"
If you haven't answered the first question, you may do so, and then answer this one too.
Note that by "Children" I'm not saying that some parents give their 5 year-olds cell phones, I mean like early teens or preteens. I should have clarified...
Same rules apply, state your position, Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, and then back it up.
I'll start.
I agree that the child should be able to fight for it. They could come up with a compromise or something similar. Obviously, I'm not saying that they should attack each other physically, but they should explain to each other their side E.G. Why the phone was taken away, or how what they were doing with the phone was wrong.
Not that this is even likely to happen, just the ideal.

I strongly agree. If the person deserves their phone to be taken away I believe the parent should have every right to do so. ">https://www.vizzed.com/boards/cuteeditor_files/Style/SyntaxHighlighter.css);

billythekidmonster : I don't think it makes a difference whether the kid bought the damn thing or not. Until said kid is 18, the parents have the right to take it away...

Well if the the child is doing appropriate things on the cell phone then the parent has every right to take it.

I agree that parents have the right to take the phones back, but I would not want to take the phone because it is a way for me to contact them in case something is going on. Instead what I would do is remove almost all the special features from their phones or switch it out for a very basic flip phone that can only receive phone calls.

I strongly agree that kids should have the right to fight for their phones, but not for the extra features.  If they wanted back the extra features(Such as texting/etc) then they would have to improve on whatever it was that had it taken away in the first place. Like school grades/etc.

When I was growing up having a cell phone at the age of 16 was EXTREMELY rare and had a lot of rules bound to it. My parents required me to have a 3.5 for a cell phone back then and 3.8 for a car/license (off topic sorry). But the point is that if I wanted something nice then I had to work hard for it. My wife and I have made plans to do the same with our children minus the high restrictions. We were thinking 3.0+ for cell phone usage and 3.6 for car.

I am probably in the vast minority with this opinion, but I don't think children or even teenagers should have a phone at all. So yes, I agree that parents should be allowed to take 'their' phone back. There is no reason I can see that a parent needs to give their child a phone, especially considering cell phones are microwave transmitters that are linked to brain tumors and brain cancer. However I do like Korbei's idea of using a phone as a reward to motivate a child and not just given to them for no reason.

I'm Neutral, I do think in some cases it's ok, but some are just stupid

In this day and age, I would have to say no. Cell phones make it more convenient to keep in contact with people no matter what the distance and can be an essential part to the safety of a child. This way, parents can more efficiently communicate with their kids. My step mother texts me when she is at my school so I know to walk outside and get picked up. For me, having a cell phone so I can receive her texts is the difference between sitting in a cool, air-conditioned, school or library, and sitting in the cold, snowy, rainy, or blazing hot outside waiting for her car. They are also useful for if you are lost since many cell phones now have GPS capabilities and some even have tracking devices that allow parents to know where their kids are whenever they see fit to peek. There was a child in the news recently, a boy who was allowed to walk home from day camp alone for the first time by his parents, and when he became lost, inevitably, he asked someone for directions. That person just happened to be the one person he should not have asked. He was taken back to the man's house where he was brutally tied up, and then murdered. If he had a cell phone, then he could have simply called his parents to ask for directions. But since he didn't, he took his chances with a stranger, and it ended in the worst possible scenario. That being said, it still remains an issue that children may continue to use their phones to do things that are inappropriate during school like watching videos, listening to music, texting or gaming. I think that the best Idea here would be, rather than to confiscate their phones, disable all of the features except for calling. Or if better yet, if your kid has a really nice phone with lots of features, buy a cheap $ 9.99 phone with pay as you go options, confiscate the good phone, and give them the cheap one with nothing on it, no texting plan, and limited minutes. I think that would be just as effective, and safer, than taking away their phone all together.