When this is enforced I’ll be a freshman in college, but we’ve had strict phone bans at my school in recent years. I’m 17, with a 504 (used to have an IEP) so I’d just like to voice my opinion.
Before I start, I don’t think this law should apply to disabled students. I know there are some conditions where you need to check medical things on your phone. That I totally understand and I hope there are things put in place so those students are protected.
But for the general population of children in school, I don’t think it’ll be a terrible thing. Kids at my school use their phones way too much in class and it’s all to watch TikTok videos or play games. I keep seeing the excuse of “what if there’s a shooting!” Those are very rare, and if there’s ever were to be one, your parents would be notified. And I’m sure they’re not going to enforce a policy like that if something ever did happen.
I just see a bit of immaturity with people getting really upset about this. What, you’re mad you can’t play games during class anymore? You’re mad you can’t watch TikTok? Just put your phone away like you’re being asked to and do the work you’re there for. You can use your phone at home all you want. Have yet to see one strong and convincing argument about this matter.
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it’s one thing if they make you put it in a pouch on the wall or smth during class but if they even enforce it during like lunch and stuff that’s kinda corny
Okay fair, but it extends to laptops as well, and those some of us actually need
Its absolutely insane that they weren’t already banned. I don’t know another country where kids are allowed to use their phones in the classroom
Didn’t think phones would be allowed in the first place
Kids at the district I work at supposedly like the phone ban, because even middle school kids realize how toxic it makes their lives and appreciate the forced break so they can focus on real life.
I just looked it up and you can’t use it during lunch either so if you need to contact your family for any reason you are screwed.
Also, if you allow disabled kids and no others to use it then you are giving more ammunition to bully these kids. They already stick out and now you’re adding jealousy to the mix
Also, were they ever able to use it in class. What fucking shithole do you live in that allows that
They did it at my school and after a month no one cared
God. Im so old we didn’t even have phones to take to school to even worry about.
Only people who complain are kids or annoying parents who think they need to reach their kids 24/7.
I’m old and graduated high school when flip phones were still a thing and they were absolutely not allowed. A lot of people I knew got real good at blind T9 texting.
Are schools today really just…. Allowing completely unregulated phone use in class? Like sorry, but if you’re not good enough to keep that shit hidden then you deserve to get it taken. I couldn’t imagine trying to teach a class of teenagers all just scrolling TikTok and texting all through class. I don’t know the exact rules of this ban, I could see between classes and lunch being a free zone, it was very strict for the entirely of school hours when I was in school. But this just sounds normal to me.
I’d much prefer the rule of your phone is confiscated until the end of the day if you use it during class instead of a full on ban. People should be allowed to use their phones in-between classes and I would much rather keep my phone on hand incase of an emergency text.
The issue is that the government is doing the job of a parent.
I had my phone on screentime during my entire high school career, and all games and social media was locked during school hours. Most of it got lifted my junior year because I proved I was capable of regulating myself, but with one or two exceptions, I was never on my phone when I wasn’t supposed to be during class because my parents enforced on me early that it was disrespectful to the teachers and I needed to pay attention.
Many of the problems arising in younger people stem from their parents not properly monitoring what their kids have access to and not funneling their kids towards other hobbies or activities not on the internet.
I’m for it in the sense of it being a major distraction in class, but at the same time, I hate the idea of it if there was ever an emergency and you need to reach someone at home (fire, earthquake, god forbid an active shooter)
This is just people complaining because they like to be on their phone. Decides very specific circumstances there’s no reason students should be using their phone during class. We have got to stop letting people do whatever they want when they should be learning. I had this in college if you were on your phone repeatedly he would kindly ask for you to leave. If you talked to the person around you for a long period of time same thing. School is not a social function, entertainment, or something that should be ignored. Education in America is worsening and that’s incredibly dangerous in an increasingly complex and technologically advanced world.
Agreed for the most part. Biggest argument against it I’ve heard is: “what if theres an emergency and I need to call my mom,” or vice versa…i’m sure the school office can handle that and if your parents are smart enough to, they can call there if they really need to reach you and you can call from the office, if it’s something such as getting sick. But yeah, for a big emergency like a fire, thats completely valid and people should be able to have their phones during that to contact loved ones if they can.
However, i think it’s stupid to enforce it between classes and lunchtime, when no learning or paying attention to teachers is even happening.
It is crazy to me that they weren’t banned to begin with.Most schools in most countries have them banned.
It’s because the way they’re requiring it is the pouches. Most districts can barely afford supplies, they definitely can’t afford the pouches. The state or federal government won’t help either. The poorer districts suffer more than
That’s my main concern at least
Banned? Sure, kids shouldn’t be on their phones during class and need to stop being so dependent on them, but I hope this doesn’t mean the phones get taken at the start of the day and returned at the end cause that’s not okay, you don’t have the right to take someone else’s property like that.
I can see “no phones in class” I just don’t think it’s healthy to teach kids that people should have that much control over you when your not even doing school work, just because you are in the building.
I disagree with the whole idea but won’t deny the fact that it’s probably what’s best. I do think that how most schools are employing this, taking away students phones at the door in some cases, banning them the whole day is stupid. Students should be able to use their phones during anytime while not in class.
Instead they go the lazy route and take the phone away entirely. I think this takes away teaching them how to be responsible with their phones. Sometimes, like some may have mentioned in the comments, you give an inch they take a mile and by that I mean they take away other non-school distributed tech like personal computers or tech that can connect to the internet. I think that’s unfair.
Ultimately, technology is going to be apart of our lives whether we want it or not, and we need to learn to moderate ourselves. This just feels like fighting against the inevitable.
I don’t know if I care that they’re banned as I’m 26 and not in high school and we don’t plan to have kids for a while so it’ll be a long ass time before they even have a phone
BUT, I feel like there’s a lot of blame on the parents. Be better parents and teach your children that school is a place to learn and not play on your phone
Then there wouldn’t need to be rules around it
Thousands of years school is taught without cell phones
To ask a Gen Z’er you’d think they’re the first to ever not be allowed phones and they’re being oppressed for some unexplained reasons
As someone who’s been through a lockdown in a city in a state where it could never possibly happen with our strict laws here, I was glad I had my phone. This was in 2009. After that that “your parents will be notified” thing doesn’t do it for me anymore. My parents would be notified there’s a lockdown when the school is good and ready. Meaning whenever they’re able to. If it’s going to be my kids last moments-id want to hear from them at least one last time on the off chance they don’t make it out alive. My mother was the first one I text when it happened to us and I told her how much I loved her. ESPECIALLY after the crap in Uvalde, screw these phone bans. My mother would’ve done more than those cops did to get to me.
Beepers were allowed when we were in grade school. Cellphones exploded in popularity when I was a freshman in highschool. They we are banned immediately in my private school in my home country.
They were banned when i was in high school. Kids dont have the dreaded phone pouches? my math teachers wouldnt let you use a calculator unless you put your phone in the pouch. they put the calculators in the pouches and you tradr your phone for it. We just pretended we left our phones at home or smthn and didnt take it out during class. these teens can hide vape clouds, theyll manage
I’m guessing you are seeing the reactions of kids who are unhappy they can’t be on their phones during school.
The phone-free school movement is widely popular among adults. A rare case of bipartisan agreement on an issue.
I used to walk into class, drop my phone in a bin and collect it on the way out. It was there for an emergency, but not a temptation during class. Not sure exactly what changed that we can’t put 10 feet of distance between a student and a cell phone during class anymore. I imagine teachers are too afraid of creating an “incident” with a student who does not follow the policy and makes a scene. I don’t really blame them because schools and parents won’t have their backs, but it’s unfortunate and it doesn’t need to be so complicated as everyone is making it out to be if we could just support a teacher’s enforcement of policy.
I had to look up 504 and IEP. My ex wife was disabled but an adult, so it wasn’t a common knowledge pair of terms for me.
I agree with you, at least in part. If I’m understanding these education plans, they’re at least somewhat tailored to you, and really need to accommodate needs which can’t be a blanket policy. 504 looks a bit less flexible and more blanket-policy.
I actually don’t mind the cell phone bans, but I also understand exigent needs, and having a disability can often mean a smartphone or similar device is either an enhancement or perhaps even a medical requirement.
Otherwise? Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with anything more than a tamagotchi for a viable, discreet electronic classroom distraction, but I do see kids (and their parents, let’s be honest here) on their phones all the time. I’ve been guilty of getting swept up in an online thing. I know even if it’s not in your hands at that moment, there’s a decent likelihood you’re distracted about how to reply to that jerk who just dissed you. It takes an hour or three to kinda get over it.
I was in my early 20s when the iPhone came out. I’ve seen the phone evolution in schools. It wasn’t trending in an awesome direction. Even back then when we used the dialing buttons as T9 keyboards. Us kids were regularly distracted and banging out texts by feel, looking and even acting engaged while using that whole 160 characters to tell our girlfriends how hot they make us or coordinating a fourth period ditch to get Oreo shakes at Jack in the Box and who’s driving, or whose boobs the school security weirdo was checking out. I actually coordinated probably a third of a streaking session at a football game that way. He stripped and ran, jumped in, I did a burnout, it was amazing and never talked about :(…a lot of it in class, at school, 2004, on our phones.
So yeah. I get the phone ban. I’m sure I missed something awesome while I was texting, fun as it was, and as in the background as I thought it was.
I would agree if students didn’t have to be at school for an unnecessary amount of time.
Disabled kids have accommodations listed in their IEP. It should list whether they need assistive technology or not.
Not all kids that need extra support need it…. its dependent on their own personal needs. You’re not going to give a kid with behavioral issues an iPad, just so you will end up having to fight him to get him to do his work. But you will give a kid with speech difficulties one.
-Former student from 2000 – 2013 that was supposed to have an IEP, but their parents refused to consent.
When I was a kid, and growing into my teens. I had siblings and issues out of school to focus on. You likely don’t have those obligations, some kids do. Some of us worked after school and some had to communicate inside the school. You can make this case for any kid. Regardless of their age in school, maybe just utilize your network ability and block those things within the school and utilize network blockers to hinder service within it. Taking away will only cause more issues, but meeting it where there truly is a problem would help. No one needs to convince you either that it should or shouldn’t, nor should anyone dictate what your phone obligations are. It’s the first 18 years of your life, 8 hours a day. Not all programs and institutions are “learning forward” tech should be used to enhance the experience, not ban it.
I graduated in 2018 and up until my sophomore year phones were banned in my middle school, and my freshman year of high school. It became more lax my sophomore year and beyond when we got a new principal, and there were definitely pros and cons. Personally, I think kids should be able to have their phones on them for safety reasons, but they should be put on silent and put away. I don’t think kids should be using them during class
In the case of a shooting, I absolutely do not want anyone with any device that could possibly make a noise
>those are very rare
Try telling that to people who don’t like guns.
I’m 26 and haven’t been in high school or college for a few years now but just throwing in my two cents, I don’t think this is really the play people think it is.
When my parents first gave me a phone in 4th grade they explicitly told me that it was to call them if something happened. While a school shooting might be rare there are other things kids may need to call their parents for. Off the top of my head—I had a discrepancy at lunch with a teacher who tried to have me sent to the principal for insubordination when in reality all I wanted was to know what was going on with my school lunch (or I wouldn’t have eaten that day). I called my mom panicking about what I was going to eat because none of the teachers cared
Once in high school my school got out on lockdown for idk how many hours while a man in the neighborhood my school was in held his gf and her parents hostage at gunpoint. This was right across the street from us. It ended in a murder suicide. I’d have preferred my mother know what was happening right away than wait until the schedule sent out notices to all idk how many thousands of parents before mine got ahold of it.
There will always be people who abuse leniency and privileges but to punish everyone for a few bad apples has never been the gotcha people in power think it is. Confiscate phones while people aren’t paying attention in class. It’s none of your business if I want to watch a stream at lunch during my down time.
And at the end of the day, I don’t want the government parenting my kids. People need to be proper parents, not the federal government.
graduated high school and always went on my phone after i finished my work. it’s something to do after but students definitely abuse it. phone bans such as putting it in a pouch the whole day seems overkill though. it would probably demotivate me from doing my work since it feels like a punishment
I had a phone and laptop in school, we put them in my IEP to make it ok.
Kids should be allowed to keep phones in their backpacks. The state just let like 100 kids get washed away and drown. If kids have their phones on them then at least maybe we can use gps to find them when there’s another natural disaster. Also, tons of kids walk to and from school. Where I live, if you’re within 2 miles of a school, there’s no bus. They should be able to have a phone with them before and after school at the very least. Either way, I don’t trust this state or the schools to keep my kid safe. Any Texan would be stupid to after what we just witnessed in hill country. It also seems like a great way to prevent video evidence from getting out at a time when our rights are constantly being threatened. I’d rather not teach kids to just roll over like that. Keep the phones in backpacks and confiscate it if there’s an issue. My kids are both in high school and that’s how it’s always been done. It’s never been a problem. Texas has just become a nanny state passing ridiculous laws and failing to actually keep anyone safe.
There isn’t a phone ban in schools
This is an unpopular opinion mainly because most of the world isn’t attending high-school anymore and most redditors by analytics are as far removed from it on average as you are in years old. Loll
And as the population shrinks year over year, so does the statistic.
Yes and no. Ofc teachers should be able to enforce kids not using their phones in class unless given permission but requiring them to be “off” and “put away” is concerning to me. Sure shootings are rare but they are still the number one killer of children in America so clearly not that rare and I wouldn’t want my kid to have to scramble for their backpack to grab their phone and turn it on all just to contact me for what could be the last time. Also there can be other emergencies on the side of the parent or student that would be easier with immediate communication, and even simply changes in schedule like when they’re getting picked up bc their club got cancelled or something which the student cannot communicate as this mandate includes free time, lunch periods, and time in between classes. The idea makes sense but the laws being put in place are inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. If they’re gonna do it, they have to do it right, and right now they’re not.
I was born 1991, graduated 2009 and cell phones have been banned since forever. I remember my mom having to go and get my cell phone from my high school office around 2006ish
Yeah I don’t get the pushback at all. Phone use in schools was just recently banned in my state, and parents were losing their minds. Like, why? I think it’s great! My children are still very young but the last thing I want is for them to develop a screen addiction, much less come across porn, stupid mind-numbing tiktok shit, or cyber bullying.
“But you’re the parent, you should keep them away from those things if you don’t want them to see them!” Yeah, sure, I’ll move them to an Amish community immediately. The truth is that you can’t control what other parents allow their kids to bring to school, and you can’t fight single-handedly against all the bullshit that the Internet has to offer, nor the long arm of bullying that 24/7 phone access now provides kids of all ages.
I’m only 37, but this is one of those rare things that I agree with Boomers about. It’s school, your kids will survive without having a phone all day long
I graduated high school in the mid 2000s and our school had a strict no phones during class policy. You are right OP, people are overreacting. I promise you you’ll live.
I was in “ISS” or “In School Suspension” when Columbine happened. I went to school the days the towers were hit, and watched the second one get hit on live tv during global studies. I didn’t get a cell phone until I graduated high school. I have nieces and nephews that are in high school and I immediately asked their parents (my siblings) if they had phones. Of most students want to f around and not put in the work, that’s on them; but I think the safety of the students is more important and they should be allowed to have their phones.
In elementary school im all for it, but once you are in highschool 1: Its your fault if you fall behind because you are distracted and 2: People often have jobs/other obligations, and I was often getting in trouble either with my boss because I didn’t respond (Their excuse was “Everyone has their phones on them so you’d better answer”) or my teacher because I had my phone out, it was a lose-lose situation because of the rules at the time
I genuinely think it’s just bad school policy. I graduated only a few years ago, and we all had our phones in our pockets/bags and only some people took them out. if you were visibly using it (without a known excuse or clearly only just checking the time) they took it away from you and you picked it up at the end of the day?
if I didn’t have my phone on me, I’d miss important text messages, but people were not mass using them. other policies need to be changed besides just blanket banning phones
I’m out of the loop. Are cellphones now banned at schools throughout the US, or where is this happening?
My high school did not allow phones/ipods/handheld video games. If you got caught with one, it was taken. and you get thrown in detention. kids parents would have to get them from the office
My one gripe about it is that, why, just because some people can’t fucking pay attention, I’m not allowed to use my phone? Even when I’m done all my work and have nothing to do but sit there and twiddle my damn thumbs.
Sure teachers don’t wanna confiscate them every day but I don’t think I deserve to have to work my ass off in class and sit there with just my thoughts before the period is over just because some kids have an addiction.
It’s always group punishments and not acknowledging the actual offenders. Because then EVERYONE is miserable and annoyed. And even without phones kids and teens will still find ways to be distracted or just simply won’t do their work out of defiance.
I finished high school so the ban won’t effect me I just wanted to bitch about silly stuff on the internet
I teach in Japan and if a phone even goes off on accident in someone’s bag, the teachers are stopping class and searching for it. It’s just common sense to keep the number one distractor out of a place of learning.
I know parents who are upset by these bans. I assumed this was a classic adults vs teens situation. Nope.
I think people (especially parents) would feel better about phones being banned once the gun-in-school situation has been met with the same energy
I’m 24, and I remembered 16-17 and thinking “I should pay attention or else I’ll be fucked later” if you’re too dumb to realize that or not care and compulsively be on your phone that’s on you tbh
I have seen nothing but people who are extremely happy about this? Who is not happy?
School shooting. That’s why I’m against it. Anyone can call the police (sometimes they help) or they can call their parents. It’s a sad fact but we live in a sad country.
I would just like to voice my opinion on this as a highschool student. I have no issue with not being able to use my phone during class as it makes sense. However when students get fully banned from using it during passing period or even during lunch that is where most people tend to get annoyed.
As a teacher what I’ve noticed is the extreme emotional fragility. Largely symptomatic of addiction (to anything really).
Kids throw hands so easily. Kids cry so easily. Kids quit so easily. There’s no stamina anymore.
How about having a cubby system for phones next to the classroom door. If a student has immediate family stuff they can leave their ringer on with teacher permission and slip out into the hall?
Phones have become to personally-connected to us to the point that we are unable to ever truly “unplug.” I don’t mean that we all need to go touch grass, but there WAS a time where we put our phones on silent and left them alone for two hours while we were watching a movie.
DND probably needs to become a tiered hierarchy at this point just so people leave them alone unless THAT level of emergence arises. It’s basically gotten to the point where anxiety has infiltrated a younger generation into never being able to “get lost.” Parents leave phone numbers for the babysitter and they rarely get to turn the part of their brain associated with their children off. But now kids can’t even go to a friend’s house, or go out without a safety rope that follows them everywhere. There’s no solitude in that. There’s no autonomy.
All of that is to say: ALL phones should have AOL Instant Messenger away messages, so people can put their phones down and come back to them.
AWAY MESSAGE: I’m camping bitches!
Oh, looks like Phil’s camping. I’ll leave him an an away message
“Dope dude! Where you at?”
This person has privacy set to moderate, if the subject of this text is time restrictive, please text again!
This person is currently Unavailable. They will receive your message when they are available again.
This person isn’t receiving communication at this time. If it’s an emergency please XYZ…
This person isn’t receiving communication during classroom hours. If you are a parent, XYZ.
There’s so many ways to counter where we’re at, but nobody wants to challenge the status quo.
the people are addicted to phones big time.
you take their drug away.
what did you think will happen?
this only shows how bugged your youth us.
I’ve wondered why phones were allowed to be out and on at school for ages so I agree with you. Several generations got through school without phones just fine. I’m so glad we didn’t have them when I was in school.
I see a reoccurring statement that honestly makes no fucking sense
Why are so many of you actively saying “well we didn’t have it back in my day and we survived so kids these days are just weak”
You do realize it’s meant to get easier right? We are meant to keep designing and creating more things to improve life, Like do you hold that thought process for anything else?
I don’t even really care about kids using phones, I know I’d hate every bit of that set up, especially in school a lot my friends I talked to daily were from all over the place, so if I had no phone that would definitely translate to not having easily 65% of my friend group.
No offense ( or take offense I don’t care) but y’all love to talk a big game but I have no doubt a great deal of the people complaining about this would be struggling with it if they were in school currently.
Regardless,
Phones in school are a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. I used to be all for banning phones in school but we live in America, people care more about guns than kids. As many school shootings as we have I don’t think we have any choice but to allow kids to have phones because you never know what could happen. It happens wayyyyyy too often to even chance it.
Yeah, there were no phones allowed out of your pocket in school.
Not sure what the fuck kids are doing these days lol.
So this ban will not impact my school at all. For over a decade we have had the rule that phones must be turned off and in backpacks. Teachers can authorize them to turn them on briefly for educational purposes. (Take a pic in biology lab, set a reminder to get a formed signed later, etc)
If a student is caught with a cell phone, it is confiscated until the parent either picks it up or talks to the admin and releases the kid to pick it up. (Also an automatic Saturday school)
The students can whine occasionally, but I never have to compete with cell phones for students attention. The fact that parents are freaking out so bad about this law is bullshit. Calm down, you don’t HAVE to test your kid during algebra class.
I was in highschool when Nokia 3310 came around.
They definitely didn’t tolerate us using phones back then and it shouldn’t be now.
It was very easy. You simply used your phone on the breaks. Not in class.
The main issue I have with some of these laws is it bans phone use during lunch and free periods which I don’t really see the point of
Man… idk. I see things about emergencies and all that, but I graduated in the early 2000s and we didn’t have phones. My mom died when I was in high school, during class, and they called me out of class and didn’t even tell me until I got out of the school and my mom’s friend told me outside of the school in her car. So, would it have been nice to have known with a phone the moment it happened? Probably? Was I glad I didn’t know and freak everyone else and myself out until I got out of the school? I guess.
Put Payphones back in the hallway so my kid can call me and tell me when practice times change, and you can ban the phones, lol. I just dont wanna be waiting in the parking lot for 90 mins when a text could have prevented that.
The thing is for me, back when I went to middle school which was only about 8 years ago, when I was in 7th grade. If a teacher or admin just saw a phone on you, they would question you and take it away. Then came freshman year, they were more lenient because they realized no one used their lockers in high school (at least in mine because of the layout). However, you were not allowed to use them during class times which, yeah very understandable. But here comes Covid, and then it all went downhill from there. Everyone would be on their phones at all times of the day and teachers would not enforce no phones in the classroom like they did before. Now some people used the very weak excuse of “I forgot my computer at home” (because they gave everyone computers) so apparently that meant they needed their phone, which like, I understand they can’t really say no, but like I feel that they could… Anyways, here comes my senior year of high school… we get those Yondr pouches. We can’t have them at all, not even during lunch or study hall, which is my main problem because I’m more of an introvert so that’s my time to recharge during the school day. But again, on top of the Yondr pouches, if they saw your phone outside of one, they would take it for a day, to week, to month, with ISS/OSS and all of those.
Here’s my main problem though, and this is probably so different with a lot of others. However, my school did all of that with the Yondr pouches and taking phones for long periods of time and ISS/OSS stuff. But then, they wouldn’t even check the Yondr pouches correctly. As long as you had it on you, and it was sealed, you were good to go. BUT NOW MY BIG PROBLEM: WHY GIVE US ALL COMPUTERS THEN ANYWAYS. Like seriously, my school overhauled all of our Chromebooks and HPs and bought MacBooks to distribute to everyone. They replaced one distraction with another, and like I’m not trying to haul my big laptop (compared to phone) out at lunch when there’s a high possibility food/liquid is about to be spilled onto it.
TLDR: Keep phones out of classroom, I am totally behind that 100%. Let us, especially upperclassmen, have them during lunch and study hall. Don’t buy Yondr pouches when you’re not even going to actually check them. Don’t replace all of our computers with Macbooks and act like that’s not going to be a distraction itself.
This phone ban rule was supposed to be a thing in 2020-2021 in my last school year, but every teacher ignored it and everybody forgot about it. Exceptions were exams and tests, when we had to give our phones to teachers, but that was always like that.
Pretty much same with college. Teachers themselves asked us to use phones so we can check important information, doing tests in app etc. Nobody really cared about that rule. On the other hand, maybe they should have. I graduate the college with honors, but I highly doubt it’s like that because i’m so smart. 60% thanks to phone tbh.
Of course they should be banned. School isn’t about convenience and fun; it’s a place to learn and practice actual self-discipline.
I graduated HS in the 90s. College in the very early 2000s.. I survived without phones, so can these kids.
(End ‘Boomer’ opinion)
Depends on the ban.
My state allows you to have a phone, it just has to be off and in a backpack during class.
Who said the phone was second hand?
And there is a difference between a school refusing to return property to a student versus a person allowing a staff member of a pool to hold your belongings. Thats comparing apples to oranges.
I agree with you. I don’t think this is unpopular with anyone besides students who are impacted and over bearing parents.
This is a failure on two sides. One, it’s a failure of the students. If they weren’t grossly abusing the issue, it wouldn’t be a big enough deal to ban. If they kept their phones off and in their pocket or back pack except between classes and during lunch or free time, no one would care. But you can’t expect kids of that age to do something logical for the most part. Most will go with the flow and do what the other kids are doing.
That’s why the second issue is a failure of the schools. This is not a hard issue to solve. Most kids didn’t have cell phones when I was in school. It was going from bag phones to smaller phones and I didn’t get one till I was in 10th grade. Having said that, there were still distractions. There always have been. Pokémon cards, pogs, marbles decades ago. It’s always something.
Schools have always been able to handle it in the past. The rules are made clear. Don’t have it out during class. If you have it out, the teacher takes it and you get it back at the end of the day. If it happens twice, your parents have to come in to get it back for you.
So if the reasons everyone claims they need them, aka shootings and emergencies, are true; then they don’t need to be out. They don’t even need to be out between classes for that to happen. Just off and in their pocket or bag. So a seizure policy for phones that are seen out should be no problem.
Schools are failing though. They enforce non-sense, like expelling kids for chewing pop tarts into what might be a gun shape, if you squint at it sideways; yet let kids run wild and play during class. Capitulating to obvious lies about why they need their phone on them and out all the time. Letting students and parents scream and physically attack staff. Our local vice principle had to call in a dad because of his son getting expelled due to his behavior. It ended with the dad chasing him across the parking lot and both of them beating him.
So banning cellphones seems necessary. Though it’s over kill if they simply enforced basic rules on usage. You take one kids phone or ban them from having one for repeat behavior and 90% of the rest will realize there are consequences and keep theirs tucked away when appropriate.
Its not a coincidence that kids have never struggled more in school and cell phone use is so bad a ban is needed.
Calling school shootings extremely rare is a bit interesting… sure the number isn’t massively high.
There have been 74 incidents involving gunfire on school grounds this year. And we just past halfway through the year.
While I agree that students should spend less time being on their phones in class, phones save lives. One student with a phone can be the difference between life and death.
When I was in high school, we had a student have a heart attack in class. The teacher froze and didn’t know what to do. You know who saved that kids life? A student who had been playing games on their phone.
For me, it wasn’t a problem because I was at a private Christian school so you phone just stayed in your locker. So transitioning to public school phone rules was a breeze while others were annoyed by the rules. (Also had an IEP, now have 504)
Modern cell phones didn’t even exist until recently. We made it hundreds of years with kids going to school without a personal phone.
They are completely unnecessary for kids at schools. If anyone is mad about them being banned, too bad. Get over yourself.
I feel like this depends on the school. I graduated in 2014 but all through highschool the school provided us laptops. At that point phones were the least of their concern, as everyone was tech savvy enough to bypass admin locks and kids would be communicating on chatrooms in there/gaming anyways. Ultimately it comes down to how it impacts grades
Our school uses Yondr pouches. Students who have a verified medical condition get one that has velcro instead of a lock.
I agree that some people are overreacting. It’s kind of rough because we’ve gotten used to pulling out our phone every time we’re even a little bit bored. I’ve even seen people pull out a phone during a conversation they started. I swear some people are legitimately addicted
Then you are part of the problem
What new phone ban?