My kid’s school banned phones not just in class but in school completely. Since one of the main reasons my daughter has a phone is so she can be in contact on her way to and for school, leaving the phone at home defeats the purpose. So I told her to ignore the rule. She just keeps it in her backpack all day, but banning phones across the board is such a lazy solution, and it punishes the entire school
I have mixed feelings about the necessity of this.
On the one hand, I know they don’t really need the cell phones, because they didn’t exist when I was in school.
On the other hand, the kids who are paying attention to their cell phone rather than the teacher probably wouldn’t listen to the teacher if the cell phone wasn’t present, either, and some of them would be far more disruptive toward other students who are trying to listen.
On the third hand, expecting the kids to pay attention all the time even if they’ve already mastered the subject and are bored out of their skulls by the repetition needed for the kids below the class median to have a chance of understanding too is a problem in and of itself.
Fortunately, I am not a teacher, a student, or the parent of a student, so I have no horse in this race and am not required to make a decision on whether the bans are useful or just obnoxious.
Instead of teaching media and online literacy just forbid it, sounds like a good solution.
I am fully competent when it comes to online literacy, and smart phones didn’t even exist when I was in school. We had computer labs, computer classes, and libraries with computers in them, we learned just fine.
You don’t need to be on social media or Tiktok, or cheat on your assignments with ChatGPT during school hours.
Smartphones have other uses, but more importantly forcing anyone to comply with this rule is gonna make them want to disobey more. It’s the responsibility of the education system to educate ofc but also streamline education, make it easier. Keep their attention. If the kids aren’t distracted by their phones while they hate their school, I guarantee you they’ll find other ways to distract themselves. I’d be maybe fine with banning certain apps. I always say smartphones aren’t addictive, they’re useful. It’s apps that are designed to be addictive.