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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.
I hate to even say this but now in America you can go straight for the top shelf drama and say your kid needs a phone in case of a school shooting.
What good does that do when the parents go pick it up that day and give it to the kid? It’s the parents not following through with the punishment and cutting the authority of the school off at the knees.
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.
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It used to be, but then the parents get involved and have a hissy fit. They say f it, I don't get paid enough for this extra stress.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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What I love is how kids scream that they need their phones in case of emergencies, but are actually using them to text and watch Netflix. OK here comes the "when I was a kid this is how things were" speech - but when I was a kid, we got by just fine knowing if we needed a phone there was an office nearby. Of course that was in the stone ages before cell phones and hula hoops and frisbees and all these other modern doodads.
When I was a kid, Columbine made national headlines for years. Now we have a school shooting almost every day.
When I was a kid, textbook rental at my public school in my senior year of high school cost more than any given semester of college tuition for either of my parents.
It's easy to look back and think you've seen this all before, but you never step foot in the same river twice and this one's a lot deeper and wider than the one you used to wade in.
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If it was the kids screaming they would be totally ignored. It's the parents that get pissed off when their kids aren't instantly texting them back.
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When the school shootings 100% stop and the bullying dealt with sure I'm willing to revisit this but not a chance in hell am I sending my kid to school without a way to reach me.
I like the idea of the cell phone cubby. It's there if an emergency arises, but out of reach otherwise. It's a good solid middle ground.
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On the other hand, this is how we know about teachers doing things they absolutely shouldn't do.
I read books in class. I drew pictures in class. I just looked out the window and daydreamed. Kids aren't going to pay attention just because you take away their phones.
EDIT: I'm honestly amazed people are against that. Are you not aware that this is why we have videos like this that expose racist teachers?
https://abc7.com/fontana-sequoia-middle-school-teacher-racial-slur/13092208/
I'm bored and could use the downvotes, so here are a bunch more examples of students filming teachers doing things that are unacceptable or just plain illegal in class because they have their phones:
https://www.wdbo.com/news/news/local/student-films-teacher-whipping-students-belt/nmJzW/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/student-teacher-qanon-video-shouting-b1951071.html
https://www.yourtango.com/news/video-math-teacher-mimicking-native-american-culture
https://www.yourtango.com/news/california-teacher-robert-bean-threatening-slam-student-against-wall
Wow, that math one! They did the same thing in my kid's math class! It was during Covid, so the teacher recorded it himself without a second thought! I couldn't believe what I was seeing!
I hear what you're saying about recording. But Im not sure phones in class are the answer.
I don't know what other answer there is to stop teachers getting away with this shit. The racism and sexual harassment I saw on display when I was going to school in Indiana in the 80s and 90s was not a secret. But since it was always the teacher's word against the kid's, the teacher always got away with it. The only time I can think of that it didn't happen was when a very devoted girl and her family in my high school spent a lot of time and money in court suing a teacher who sexually harassed her in middle school. He had his job the whole time (he was finally fired when he lost the case).
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I'm in my 30s and back in college and the amount of little shit heels on Tik Tok during the professor's lecture is too damn high! (Had to)
Makes me want to walk around class and slap the phones out of their hands, maybe slap them too. Hella disrespectful to the the teach and distracting for students who actually want to be there.
I feel like college professors are often overwhelmed by the the amount of it, and really just aren't disciplinarians like K-12 teachers are.
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Apple and google should add location based parental control, in addition to the time based. A checkbox ‘in a school’ would be easy. Let parents disable things they don’t need like Netflix while leaving them with their emergency communication device.
Not perfect, but it would help.
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There are a lot of things to consider here. The world has changed.
Kids have legitimate reasons for having a cell phone today. It makes it infinitely easier to coordinate pickups, care of siblings, emergencies, job scheduling, etc. it shouldn't be used during class, but ae a parent i have enough legit reasons i want my daughter to have her phone on her and as long as its not being used during class, then the school can fuck right off. Ill decide whats best for my child. If she uses it during class, give her detention or whatever. Or tell me and ill handle itat home.
Beyond that, i dont want a teacher confiscating a device that costs several hundred dollars. That would lead to teachers or admins mysteriously "losing" the phone, only for it to show up on eBay.
There have also heen numerous high profile incidents of the bad behavior of teachers, students, and security personnel. I kinda like the idea of kids being able to not only defend themselves but also provide evidence to authorities that would probably have not believed them otherwise.
Today, phones are a ubiquitous paret of everyone's lives. Schools are better off trying to figure out how to integrate the technology into their lessons instead of a futile war against them.
I'm pretty sure the issue being discussed is the usage of phones during class time. Literally, it's in the blurb. You didn't even have to click on the article.
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That's true the world has changed and we're much more an interconnected and online society than before. And a case can be made that phones have good uses as you point out.
But, coordinating pickups and job scheduling and such still shouldn't be done during class time. The problem here is that kids are allowing themselves to be distracted by their phones, and are using them in harmful ways - I've seen it myself, my neices and nephews talking about sex pictures they have been sent by their classmates during school hours.
I think phones and laptops definitely belong in modern schoolrooms but they do need to be regulated in some way. Kids are not as well-heeled as adults are and don't see the dangers.
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this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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