In California, a high school teacher complains that students watch Netflix on their phones during class. In Maryland, a chemistry teacher says students use gambling apps to place bets during the school day.
Around the country, educators say students routinely send Snapchat messages in class, listen to music and shop online, among countless other examples of how smartphones distract from teaching and learning.
The hold that phones have on adolescents in America today is well-documented, but teachers say parents are often not aware to what extent students use them inside the classroom. And increasingly, educators and experts are speaking with one voice on the question of how to handle it: Ban phones during classes.
I may be a creaking ancient, but is the policy not “get in trouble if your phone is seen in class, or even taken away”?
It used to be, but nowadays it seems that students don’t really give a shit. They’ll downright just refuse to do what a teacher/other figure of authority will ask/tell them to do.
Yeah, so problem isn’t phones. Problem is that teachers don’t have enough authority. If teachers cannot take away the phone, then just toss them out.
I feel like this “ban phones” is getting common but it does not fix the actual problem of teachers not being able to keep discipline in class.
Can’t they just be asked to leave class if they refuse to cooperate or have some other kind of sanction imposed such as a complaint to the parents or a deduction in the grade?
The problem is parents arguing that they want their kids to have them at all times. Then they call and text their kids all day during school. I even had a football coach call one of my students during class.
The culture of instant communication at all times is really killing our kids’ education. Parents just need to back the fuck off.
If you do that as a teacher, not only will you be getting pushback from that student and others, but also said student’s parents.
When I was a kid, you respected teachers and if you didn’t, you got punished at school AND at home. These days parents are rude assholes too, and god forbid you try and correct their precious snowflake’s shitty behaviour.
And bans only really work if the school management has your back and make it a schoolwide ban. Otherwise it’s simply not worth the fight.
“When you were a kid…” No they fucking did not. Some kids have always been little shits and some “parents” only qualifications were functional gonads. It’s always been that way and always will.
Your memory is fading so you don’t remember.
https://news.ucsb.edu/2019/019669/kids-these-days
Just like many other distractions before them, phones take kids attention away from school activities. Kids have always looked to avoid classwork. Pre-cell phones, teachers were collecting comic books, different popular toys, friendship bracelets etc… it’s just the lastest issue on constant battle: Teachers try to get kids to learn, kids do everything they can to avoid it.
Most schools around here have implemented a no phone policy during class. If the phone is out, it’s sent to the office for them to collect at the end of the day.
Because of this policy, in my kids middle school some very talented kids are creatively bypassing school controls on their Chromebooks to play games. It’s an ongoing battle between a loosely organized group of 50 kids and the schools IT department. By my count the IT has squashed 9 different versions each more sophisticated than the last. The kids are hands down winning right now with a truly elegant and devious solution.
If you don’t remember the fact that kids were more respectful 25 years ago or so, you’re probably less than 25 years old. The shit teachers deal with today simply did not happen back then.
Why were tamagotchis and gameboys and cellphones banned in class when I was growing up but not these days?
My school banned cd and mp3 players even. Was annoying because my bus ride to school was a little over an hour.
It’s a cultural shift. everyone in the world now uses technology at all times (even adults, in the past it was only the kids glued to phones). So the problem isn’t actually schools, but the world.
I think there are a few reasons
We all use cellphones in the real world, so it’s important kids do in school so they’re not at a disadvantage.
It’s how the parents stay in contact with their kids. If they text their children they don’t want to wait till school is over for the response.
It lets the parents spy on the kids (If my tamagotchi alerted my mother every time I tried to masturbate, she’d probably insist I keep it on me at all times).
It’s good for a distraction and keeps kids from acting out in class due to boredom.
It’s how the parents stay in contact with their kids. If they text their children they don’t want to wait till school is over for the response.
What need is there to stay in permanent contact with your kid while it is in school? Outside of emergencies, there is literally nothing you can ask them that will change their schedule until school is over.
Convenience, peace of mind, etc.
Having immediate instant access to your child is a convenience adults don’t want to give up.
“Hey son, do you know where that USB stick I loaned you last night wound up? I need it for a presentation.”
“Can you pick your little sister up from soccer practice on your way home from school? Work is asking me to stay late”
“Hey honey, I’m not going to be able to pick you up today, can you see if your friend Brandon can give you a ride?”
I thought of these, and dozens of other examples, in seconds. There are many, MANY possible reasons why a parent might want to get in touch with their kid and get an answer. I feel like anyone who isn’t a complete dumbass would be able to see that.
If my tamagotchi alerted my mother every time I tried to masturbate, she’d probably insist I keep it on me at all times
That’s weird man, why would your mum want to know when you wank?
This is a result of the US teaching for arbitrary ass tests, pushing bullshit curriculums, and using 40 hour school weeks + homework as a prepping ground for their shitty 9-5 future job, while underpaying + under supporting teachers. This isn’t a “moody kids with phone” problem. Are phones an issue in classrooms everywhere? Yes. Could kids use less screentime? Yes. Is the US schooling system a well studied topic of how not to construct teaching curriculums for children? Also yes.
Yours is the first comment I see that thinks further than “phones bad, mkay”. Thanks for that. I am a teacher myself, and I don’t see the phones themselves being the problem, but the fact that the curriculum is totally outdated and irrelevant to this generation and the students know this. I have personally fought to get some ‘technology weeks’ (where I teach 3D modelling, animation and programming) and the phones stay in the students pockets for the entirety of those classes (without me telling them to!), because the subject is relevant, interesting and actually requires for them to think creatively instead of just memorising facts.
(: thanks. I’m studying to be a teacher in Europe but grew up with the standard SAT American educational experience. It was miserable and my whole life I was always “the problem student”, and I was “smart but never applied myself”. Learning about it now, I realize I was a kid that needed support that was outside of the standard, and my problems were caused by the system itself being an unbending machine. It’s really depressing to think how many other “problem” kids were in my classes over the years that were just trying to seek help but didn’t know how to express it and were completely failed by the system.
Sampling bias? Because you’ve seen only students that came to lesson, and those who would use phones didn’t come in the first place?
While I agree students shouldn’t be distracted with their phones during class I don’t think enacting a law is the best remedy for the malady. This aught to be resolved by school district or even just a classroom policy.
The issue with local policy like that is that school boards or individual teachers are hugely susceptible to parental rage. Countless teachers will talk about how every parent has some reason why little Timmy just absolutely must have his TikTok machine on him at all times, just in case his mom needs to text him and can’t be bothered to call the school office.
Having some state-level precedent makes this much easier for local officials, who can just say that they’re following state guidelines.
has some reason why little Timmy just absolutely must have his TikTok machine on him at all times, just in case his mom needs to text him and can’t be bothered to call the school office
And that’s a problem why exactly? Why is every comment here pretending that there is either being glued to the screen of your phone or having it locked away, no inbetween?
Schools can somehow enforce completely rediculous clothign regulations but “the phone stays in your bag unless it’s an emergency” is somehow impossible because it’s some kind of law of nature that you must stare at the screen 24/7.
Do you want to have to watch your 25+ students every minute to enforce your rule, or would you like to teach your lesson?
That’s a fair point. But what’s worse for a student, not paying attention in class or getting a cop sent into the classroom to arrest/assault them?
If it’s a law, and the school has a cop on premises it’s just a question of when will a teacher ask a cop to deal with it.
I am not sure if a law enforced by the government and courtrooms without much room for exception is the best idea. What if a student genuinely needs a phone in class?
Why couldn’t the precedent be a school policy similar to how some schools might have a uniform policy? Why would it be easier to enforce a uniform policy than a no phone policy?
Also, what is the difference between a highschool and a college interms of phone use during class?
To be very clear, I was not suggesting that a cop arrest a student for opening Instagram.
My point is that schools will be significantly more able to resist parental pressure when the school boards quite literally do not have the authority to make the decision. Perhaps there is some room for exceptions with legitimate need, but I’d argue that the bar needs to be pretty high for that, because again, it was in fact possible for students to attend school without phones for essentially all of human history. If a parent really needs to get a message to a student, they can call the office.
I don’t have kids, and when I was in school no one had phones, so I’m way out of the loop, but there were various electronic devices that could be a distraction. Portable music players, handheld games, even a graphing calculator in a non-math or science class, any one of these would have been confiscated if used during class.
I can not think of a single reason a student should have access to a phone during class that can’t be solved another way.
I don’t think the issue is that teachers don’t want to take away the distractions, it’s more that they aren’t given the needed authority any more.
Students have notably less respect for their teachers and will often simply refuse to obey, and physically forcing them is obviously out of the question. Not to mention the absolute shitstorm that breaks over any teacher when one of the students complains at home and so invokes the fury of a helicopter parent.
What I actually like about phones in classrooms is a transparency. Every fuck up like teacher being rude or kids picking fights with each other would be recorded from a couple of angles. 20-30 teens collected together in a small room and feel bored is a recipe for something to happen, especially when teacher is that bad at getting their attention. That’s a highlighted reason why the same law was introduced in my country - to defend teachers from responsibility while they are to indocrinate youth with things even kids don’t find believable and use force if necessary.
If you are into surveillance wouldn’t it be easier to just install cameras everywhere and record everything? Then phone can stay away and locked.
To be clear, I’m not advocating for this, it sounds like a 1984 nightmare. It’s just that you don’t need kids with phones to enact surveillance
It matters who have that survelliance capability. With phones all parties are equal to report problems, with cameras - it’s school, and it’s not that hard to imagine them losing data when they themselves are at risk of a lawsuit. Besides, mass surveiliance via cameras would rightfully meet a pushback (and it’s an overkill) while phones are already here and already fixated tons of problems.
As someone with severe ADHD, if I don’t have something to listen to(through headphones obviously) or to mess with in my hands, I can pay attention to about 3 words before I am completely distracted with how the ceiling tiling looks. I get that a lot of students simply don’t pay attention as a result of their phone, but for some of us, it’s the only reason we can pay attention.
Not to mention, ebooks are a thing, and when you’re pirating them you don’t have to worry about overdue fees or your book getting stolen/damaged.
Final point, a lot of my teachers were dogshit, so learning from Wikipedia and other sources was vastly more entertaining and informative than listening to them try to explain addition to that dumbass in the back for the 8th time when he can’t even read
