Technology

And the kids that are this brazenly disrespectful and disruptive would be disrespectful and disruptive without phones too. Most kids aren't though, no matter how much alarmist media wants them to be. It's a good old fashioned moral panic. Punish the actual wrongdoers, leave the test of the kids alone.

There's a fine line between being allowed to have your phone in school and mitigating its usage. I don't entirely disagree with you, but I do think you're being a bit too... Strong, about your stance.

When I was in middle school, phones were banned through and through. Weren't allowed to be on, weren't allowed out, etc. One day I think at lunch period, I was digging through my backpack while walking and the phone flew out of the bag. It was confiscated by the jerk volunteer and given to the principal, and I had to get it with my parents after school. It's was embarrassing and I knew it was wrong because I had done nothing wrong. This fits to your point.

Everyone involved with a rational mind knew it was bullshit. However, this was also the same school that had major issues with gang violence. We had a (pretty reasonable) dress code policy that involved no local gang colors - no red, no blue, no purple. Phone were banned because there had been a driveby shooting that was called in by a gang affiliated student who got into an argument. From their perspective, they wanted to take no chances from insane 11-13 year olds who were already smoking weed and active in gangs.

I grew up in the ghetto where school is the only opportunity for people to get out of a terrible situation. My high schools graduating class was the first to have reached over 74% graduation rate in over a decade. This school (literally nicknamed Jail For Kids), had actual students with probation officers. We had multiple lockdowns monthly, almost all of which were due to people with weapons and police activity nearby.

The point I'm getting at is that, to an extent, schools absolutely mold and shape the status quo. However, it's completely wrong to make the assumption that all schools feed into the prison industrial complex. In my area, school was the one chance a kid who grew up slinging had to get out, and for many in my class it was.

I agree with you that schools have a number of issues, but from what I've read here today I don't entirely agree about your stance, from having grown up in and worked with schools like this as an adult. And to get back on topic, students not being allowed to use their phones during class is not a bad thing. During lunchtime, I agree a ban is too much, however I can also understand wanting to keep students socialized with each other. That 30 minutes during lunch doesn't need to be spent on your phone, when you have the rest of your day at home to do so.

After Covid, in my area, this dynamic changed entirely. By the time I came back from college and started working, kids weren't involved in that anymore. Middle school was completely normal, kids weren't affiliated with gangs, had no idea what weed was, let alone the other stuff. But the one thing they all had in common was the debilitating addiction to their phone. You can't go 5 minutes without seeing a child smashing their finger on the screen, in classes, during lunch, after school, on the bus. Just walking around with their eyes glued to their phone.

And I get it, I've been a screen kid too. I've always loved tech and games, still spend way too much time on it. But as a kid we had more options, our entire lives weren't spent engaging through the phone, whereas now that is how you have to engage with others. When we had playtime growing up, only a portion of it was spent on the PlayStation and a majority of the rest was imagination and exploring. Then when we were done, I'd explore the Internet on a laptop with Neopets, Gamefaqs, or Gaia Online.

To me, it seems that the intent is pretty obvious. Students have had a really difficult time being properly engaged in school due to how poor quality the level of schooling had become from the changes after 2016 that were made from the Secretary of Education, then further floundered through Covid. When schools came back into session, the level of dependency to phones has grown exponentially, and these students abilities to go without have been shortened drastically.

If the one common trend among all these students is that poor support during a critical period of education led to the overabundance of cell phone dependence, doesn't it make sense to consider banning it, to at least try and see if it results in a positive change?

From what I've read from you, it seems like the answer would be no, because it's taking away the freedom. Which, sure. But shouldn't we also make as many efforts as possible to prepare our students? If the options are 1) teach people or 2) let them ignore it and spend all their time doing nothing, wouldn't we choose to avoid option 2?

The way I have experienced it, we need to allow for healthy technological exploration while encouraging the focus on school studies. Right now, I'm honestly more on the side FOR banning phones from schools because I've seen firsthand the way students use them. When I was in highschool, it was common for people to put in headphones and ignore the teacher, and it was common for the teacher to put them on blast for it. When I go to do my job at the schools, it is a majority of the students using headphones or their phone during class to ignore the teacher. The teachers can't do anything about it, the parents don't care, and so what options are left? We just let our youth grow up going to school for 12 years ignoring every part of it?

That's a recipe for disaster. We're already seeing the effects of this with Gen Z entering the workplace (and I don't mean your standard retail or 9-5, I work in performing arts) and while many have been beyond amazing, there are a few who clearly are struggling. I worry this will be the case as more younger generations begin trying to navigate their career choices. As I said at the beginning, there is a clear line between trying to motivate the usage of phones in spaces where their presence isn't needed, and outright controlling people. In my opinion, mitigating cell phone usage in students isn't an attempt at control. It's an attempt at giving students a chance to thrive.

Btw: I definitely think we should adjust curriculums to allow for more engaging education. For some odd reason, the usage of cell phones in certain classes is way, way down. For example, yearbook, art, music, and digitally related classes (hardware/software) almost none of the students pull out their phone during class. Almost as if having students engaged in something they are interested in is a way to mitigate them using their phones to entertain themselves. I can't imagine why. (/////S)

Instead we are seeing further funding cuts to these programs, so that's great...

Tl;Dr I don't disagree, but I also do.

Yes, that's why I specified above that "home schooling" usually comes with lots of extra funding.

In my jurisdiction, an autistic student gets ~$30K of funding, half of which is earmarked for education specifically. In a public school, that gets maybe 45 min of EA time + being on a learning support teacher's caseload. With "home schooling", that $15K can pay for enrollment in a specialized small-group part-time program for academics.

The other $15K funding can pay for respite workers, if parents need more time for work, or lots of other things.

Also, parents are much better equipped to follow their children's interests with authentic experiential learning than any public school can be. Schools can't afford 1-to-1 attention, and parents know their children best. With academic support covered, parents can focus on following their children's interests.

These students are also followed by a teacher (like me) and a learning support teacher to help coordinate resources, support workers, and other planning. There are layers of support.

It's an incredibly effective educational model.

I don't know if something similar is available in the US. I imagine it varies by state, and I would not expect Red states to support programming like this.