Cell phone use in school - evolving, finally?

[Hrhpd]

Call me old fashioned, but I think that it's really dumb to allow students to have cell phones in the classroom. I really don't care what all of the excuses are, but I will say this...I have a friend whose income is low enough that her kids are on the federal school lunch program, she struggles to get by each month, and just cannot afford for her son to have a cell phone. Her kid's school policy is no phones in class. Yet repeatedly the math teacher says to all the middle schoolers for them to get out their phones in order to use them as calculators...and her son is treated by the students AND the teacher like some sort of alien from another world because he doesn't have his own phone.

If you need a calculator...USE A CALCULATOR, NOT A PHONE AS A CALCULATOR in the classroom.

I suspect that the way I feel about this might not be the norm and y'all can certainly bite my head off and defend all the reasons why a 9 year old needs a phone at school, but let's just keep our heads on straight for a moment, ok?

What happened when WE were in school and we needed to reach 1 of our parents?
You went to the FRONT OFFICE and used the SCHOOL'S PHONE to call Mom or Dad or Grandma or your guardian, etc.

What happens when people spends tons of time in front of their tablets & smart phones? They disengage from the people sitting right in front of them. We all have seen it countless times in restaurants and heck, even at DL and WDW. How do you establish solid relationships with others? YOU TALK TO THEM...not through text messaging...not through Twitter...not through Snapchat. You have an actual conversation that involves speaking out loud, not by typing.

Ok, getting off my soap box now.

If your friend's 9 year old is already in middle school, that is a whole different set of problems. Her son is with tweens and teens where today's norm is having a cell phone. As for the students treating him like an alien, that is not a cell phone problem, it is an empathy problem. It is ridiculous to suggest banning everybody from having something just because one person cannot afford it. What happens when others get new shoes or a new car in high school?

And you cannot judge how engaged people or how solid their relationship is by observing a snapshot of their life and what they are doing in a restaurant. We are always on our phones in a restaurant. But that is because if we are, that usually means we have been together all day, conversing and interacting, and this is now our downtime.

And I can have an actual conversation by typing. It is still conversing and interacting with each other. Perhaps the family is conversing about something private that they don't want the busybodies at the next table that are watching and judging them to hear.

In my kid's school, the office phone was off limits unless for an emergency.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I think phones, like many other things are tools students need to learn to use as adults. Teach proper use in school so that they might be less likely to stand there and text in front of me when they work in a department store. I work in a school where it is a losing battle. Some teachers are very black and white and some have completely given up. I favor teaching that there are acceptable times. If you are finished your work early and want to use your phone quietly fine. If you are doing book-work and can listen to music without me seeing you texting or hearing your music that is also fine. If it doesn't offer an advantage and you want to use your phone as a computer go ahead. This is what most of us will do as adults. However, you can also lose those privileges for a period of time if you use your phone in a rude or inappropriate way. Don't sit and talk on it in class, I have students who will try, don't text when you should be doing school work, don't blast music....

 

[Hrhpd]

I work in a high school. About 10% of the cellphone use is for education. The rest is to text someone else in the class, outside of the class, etc.

If a parent needs to contact a child during school hours, it should be done through the office. If a kid needs to contact a parent during school hours, it should be done through the office.

Kids are so fused with their phones that they'll get up in the middle of a teacher's instruction and go plug their low battery phone into the wall unit behind the teacher's desk.

I get the 'access to technology' - we're all so used to instant access. No one has to think, remember, look at each other, talk to each other. A bunch of tuned out zombies. Rise in anxiety and depression, social disorders -all came around when we got the sooooooo needed technology.

Kids can't even think without a phone in their hands. They obsess about what they may be 'missing' if they can't check their phones. They're snapchatting selfies during class, using the camera as a mirror, hiding earbuds in their hands.

So, no I don't think kids need to have access to technology during class, especially not their phones. Let them learn to listen and think.

Your high school has the wrong policies then if only 10% is used for school work.
Our high school was technology based. The school supply list for freshman had one item on it: A laptop with specific specifications. The school offered them for around $1,200 for the windows version and a bit more for the Mac version or you could provide your own. Students on free or reduced lunch could check one out from the school and nobody would know they were borrowing one. Comcast provides $10 a month internet for qualifying families so even struggling families could have access to all the school technology and assignments.

The wifi in the school was upgraded and every phone, pad, laptop was registered. To access the internet on a phone (cell providers internet was blocked, texting and calling was available), you had to provide your phone number and a text was sent with an access code. Things like snapchat and facebook were blocked.

I can't imagine having my children in a school so stuck in the past that the teachers do not believe that technology belongs in the classroom.

And I would much rather have somebody quietly plug in their phone than walk out of the classroom to go use the office phone. Or to have a lecture interrupted by an announcement telling Johnny to come down to the office because there is a phone call for him (blasts from the past.) The student can stay listening to the class material by glancing at his phone if Mom texts and says that Grandpa's surgery went well.

Although, if a student is getting up from their seat during a lecture, whether it is for plugging in a phone or something else, again, that is not a technology problem. That is a teacher control problem. The teacher does not have control of their classroom if the students are disrespectful and interrupting her lecture.

 

[Hrhpd]

For example, when a high school student takes an AP test, all electronic items such as cell phones, smart phones, smart watches, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, cameras, anything that can access the Internet...all of that stuff is prohibited.

The problem with phones in the classroom is because the instructor really can't tell whether the student is using the phone for the classroom-intended use or if the student is using the phone to goof off. And honestly, if having a smart phone in class is mandatory for the student to do his/her work, then the school should provide devices for the students to use in class.

The high school that ODD & YDD will eventually go to has a strict 'no phones in class' rule. Phones are permitted to be out during break periods like lunch and after class, but if you're at an after-school club or if you're going to a teacher's classroom for extra help on a particular subject, then the no phone rule still applies. The school has a couple of classroom sets of laptops that teachers can check out and use in class, but they are not checked out for students to take home. For higher-level math classes, a certain type of calculator is required, but if a student can't afford it, the school will provide the calculator...not a phone.

Some students have always found a way to goof off. Whether it being looking at their cell phone or doodling in the margins of their books. There will always be students who are not engaged.

Writing notes like this is still writing, just like texting and the student was not engaged back then either:

 

[Hrhpd]

DDs high school bans them from the classroom, they can be in your locker or in your car. Didn't cause us any issues, any coordination could be done before or after school. Any emergency calls go to the office. Now, I have seen them used like tablets, that certainly could be a benefit.

Still? Or has the policy evolved since your daughters were in school?

 

[loves to dive]

I'm far removed from this (thank goodness) as cell phones weren't even invented yet when my son was in school. He is back in college now and I do know that most of his instructors do not allow cell phones to be out during class. All of his professors use technology, they get emails when class is cancelled, most of the books are on line, they have little remote control thingys they have to buy which have codes on them and in class instead of raising your hand and answering a question, you click the answer on your remote control and most are required to have laptops. Most of the students have laptops, if they don't have them, they are available in all the classrooms to borrow. I know when he first started back, he moved into an apartment and didn't have internet for the first week and had to come by my office every day to check emails and class schedules. Yes, he could have set it up on his phone but he didn't want the constant bother of emails coming in all the time, he's ex-Navy and very structured. Would it have been a good idea when he was in high school? I'm torn on that, he was one of those students that did his class work in about 5 minutes and it got to the point he was so bored in all his classes by his senior year he was allowed to bring a pillow to class and sleep. (they had mandatory class attendance so it was the only solution they could come up with). Some teachers had him help other students (which he also does now in college) but he always resented that because he felt he was being taken advantage of. Having a cell phone might have allowed him to play games or read his kindle, which might have been a little less distracting and off putting to other students then him sleeping, but he is the exception. Keep in mind this was a small county public school, which he had attended from kindergarten so everyone had grown up together and all the teachers knew most of the students. We opted not to put him past grades so he could be with his friends, he did take some college credit classes while in high school but not many were offered. The other kids all knew him and would constantly be asking him questions during class because they knew the knew the answer or he would be the only one answering the teacher's questions, which was just as distracting.

 

[Hrhpd]

I believe people are defensive about their cellphone addictions. It's like a drug - your brain gets wired that you need to know NOW. You need to have that reassurance NOW. You have to let someone know what happened NOW. It seems people rarely stop to think first, post second. I call it mental diarrhea.

I do believe people are defensive, but not the population you are referring to. I think it is those that do not embrace change that are the ones that are defensive.

These are the same teachers who would have fought the light bulb and insisted that candles are better because being in the light too much would be harmful due to rest interruption.

 

[Hrhpd]

Precisely my point. Parents can comfort themselves with the idea that their kids have the best situation if phones are flat-out banned at school, but IMO that doesn't truly teach anything. The school my DDs attend(ed) does not ban phones. There are times and classes where they are not to be used. There are classes where they are utilized -- primarily from what I've heard in discussion situations. I have no idea if they're ever used as calculators because my DDs both carried their TIs and their phone wouldn't have been the tool they'd choose for math or science class.

That's what the phones are, a tool. They are occasionally used for class purposes. They are occasionally used to communicate. They are sometimes used for entertainment (music, internet). Neither one of my DDs can use their phones at their jobs. No big deal. They understand that. They are not required to leave their phone locked up somewhere. They simply don't use it at work. The older one has been in college a few years now. She uses her phone to complete her homework for her Mandarin class because it's simpler to use than the app on her Mac. She understands when it's appropriate or not appropriate to use her phone during her classes. She managed to grasp that life skill in HS, as has her sister. I feel better knowing they have a handle on that long before heading off for college.

I agree.
I was sitting at a rec center not in my town on Monday waiting for somebody. I was sitting at a table in the lounge. There were two middle schoolers sitting at the table next to me. Their conversation was very interesting. The boy mentioned he got in trouble for bringing out his cell phone during class. The girl, without hesitation, told him that "well, that just means you don't know how to hide it." And then she went on to school him on all the ways it was possible to hide a cell phone in class.

Let's face it, cell phones are not going away. Strict bans are just going to promote going underground with the phone. It is far better for the school to embrace today's technology and teach responsible use of the phone. If the student is allowed periods of use, they are not going to be the forbidden fruit causing the students to find ways to access it. Banning phones is just a challenge to smart kids on how to get around the rules. Better to embrace it and acknowledge that technology is now part of our daily life.

 

[Hrhpd]

DS is going into JR High next year, and we went to a meeting last week to get some idea on what to expect. They mentioned cell phones, and that it's ok for the kids to have them, but not to pull them out except with teacher permission. The only time cell phones aren't allowed (for jr/sr) is during standardized tests. Must bring a real calculator for those. During regular class testing, cell phones are ok. If you are caught cheating, you automatically get a failing grade.

The school is going to online text books for home, and actual books for at school only (unless you don't have internet access at home, then they'll make an exception), and are moving to an online communication board of some sort the year after (for the teacher to post assignments, answer questions about those, etc) instead of having a planner. They already have grades/absences online on the district website (no more interim report cards on paper), and jr/sr high school, grades and assignments are supposed to be posted (not sure how that works yet, as we don't have access). DS's school does online grading for the 6th graders, to help them to adjust to the way it is in jr/sr high school.

It has been 6 years now since our high school went fully tech and a few less for the middle school. All assignments are on webpages. Students do not turn in paper homework. Everything is emailed to the teacher. Even in elementary school, papers are done on google docs so that the teacher can view it while the report is in progress and can make suggestions on how to make it better. It has upped the writing skills of the students so much because they are guided throughout the process rather than just turning in the final paper and getting graded on it.

 

[luvsJack]

The lifted the ban on cell phones last year at dd's high school. Actually the ban wasn't really a ban since some of the teachers wanted them to have their phones to use for research and most didn't really care one way or the other if they had them. But the "ban" was lifted.

Now, we all realize that some kids are going to take advantage and play or text or whatever and not pay attention or do their work but two of the best teachers that dd has ever had handle it the same way. One the first day of class they told the students, "I am going to teach you the material, I am going to give you assignments that you are expected to complete and turn in. Most of these will be done in the classroom. If you choose to not listen, not complete your work and play on the phone instead that is on you and you will not pass my class." That was the end of each one's speech on cell phones. One of these is the English IV teacher and the other is AP Government. Hands down the best teachers in the school. The students not only have learned the material, they have learned how to learn, how to research, how to analyze information--I could go on and on. These two classes alone have readied dd for college more than any other class she has had. They do not baby sit these kids and try to keep them off the phones, they expect these kids to act their ages and do what is expected of them. And honestly, they get the results.

 

[VandVsmama]

If your friend's 9 year old is already in middle school, that is a whole different set of problems. Her son is with tweens and teens where today's norm is having a cell phone. As for the students treating him like an alien, that is not a cell phone problem, it is an empathy problem. It is ridiculous to suggest banning everybody from having something just because one person cannot afford it. What happens when others get new shoes or a new car in high school?

And you cannot judge how engaged people or how solid their relationship is by observing a snapshot of their life and what they are doing in a restaurant. We are always on our phones in a restaurant. But that is because if we are, that usually means we have been together all day, conversing and interacting, and this is now our downtime.

And I can have an actual conversation by typing. It is still conversing and interacting with each other. Perhaps the family is conversing about something private that they don't want the busybodies at the next table that are watching and judging them to hear.

In my kid's school, the office phone was off limits unless for an emergency.

I never said that my friend's middle schooler was 9 years old. He was not 9 when he was in middle school. He was the same age as the rest of his peers.

 

[elaine amj]

My DS is in grade school and DD is in high school. Both their schools encourage technology. DS rarely brings his iPod to school though. He will bring a device when he needs it for classwork, otherwise he prefers not to have the hassle/responsibility. If he needs me, he uses the office phone (the good part is that he needs me way less often!).

DD brings her iPhone 4 which we bought used for $25. We set it up for wifi only so it is a glorified iPod Touch. We set up an app for her to text us (it is awesome for that) and she uses it for Instagram and iMovies. She does use it as a calculator and has made iMovies for class projects with it. We have had no problems with her use of her device. She carries it with her at school but usually texts me at lunchtime and occasionally between classes (to brag about a grade or something). It's definitely convenient for coordinating after school schedules. Today, we are waiting for word from her if she will need a ride to the university track field or if she will be staying at school for practice (thunderstorms in the forecast).

All in all, it's a part of all our lives and I'm glad their schools have relaxed the rules about it.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

It has been 6 years now since our high school went fully tech and a few less for the middle school. All assignments are on webpages. Students do not turn in paper homework. Everything is emailed to the teacher. Even in elementary school, papers are done on google docs so that the teacher can view it while the report is in progress and can make suggestions on how to make it better. It has upped the writing skills of the students so much because they are guided throughout the process rather than just turning in the final paper and getting graded on it.

I'm hoping the schools here will move more towards this. Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

I work in a high school. About 10% of the cellphone use is for education. The rest is to text someone else in the class, outside of the class, etc.

If a parent needs to contact a child during school hours, it should be done through the office. If a kid needs to contact a parent during school hours, it should be done through the office.

Kids are so fused with their phones that they'll get up in the middle of a teacher's instruction and go plug their low battery phone into the wall unit behind the teacher's desk.

I get the 'access to technology' - we're all so used to instant access. No one has to think, remember, look at each other, talk to each other. A bunch of tuned out zombies. Rise in anxiety and depression, social disorders -all came around when we got the sooooooo needed technology.

Kids can't even think without a phone in their hands. They obsess about what they may be 'missing' if they can't check their phones. They're snapchatting selfies during class, using the camera as a mirror, hiding earbuds in their hands.

So, no I don't think kids need to have access to technology during class, especially not their phones. Let them learn to listen and think.

I'm sorry. I just have to say this - your post is so full of generalities that it was painful to read.

Maybe we just live on two different planets.

1. In our district, parents are HIGHLY discouraged to contact the office to get ahold of their kid. Kids are highly discouraged to contact their parents via the office - although they can IF they don't have a cell phone. Because of the time-savings for the office staff due to the above-mentioned statement, I feel as though schools have embraced student cell-phone usage more willingly than they might have if they hadn't identified that there is as much of a benefit to the school staff as there is to the students.

3. Tuned out zombies? social disorders? no one has to think, remember, look at each other, talk to each other? When was the last time you were in a Middle School lunchroom??!!

I have a teen and two tweens, and let me assure you - very little of what you stereotyped above is true. If anything, phones have made the kids around here MORE social - they are using their phones as TOOLS to enhance their social experiences, not to replace them. These kids have never known a world without a cell phone, but that doesn't mean they have stopped being kids. Every gereration has new technology that makes their lives and social experiences different from what their parents/grandparents/etc experienced. I get that the older generation who can remember a time without cell phones think that the world as *they* knew it is ending, but kids under the age of 18 these days - it's the only thing they *do* know, and they have learned to live with and adapt to it just like the first generation of tv-viewers and 4-door sedan drivers. (and indoor plumbing users and home electricity users, too.....)

The generation we should REALLY be worrying about is the entitled generation of the "We are all winners" parenting style, THEY are the ones who are experiencing anxiety and depression in record numbers (in general - the current 20-somethings age group if you want to narrow it down a little)**. My 6th grade DD has never known a world without a cell phone, but with that cell phone comes a world of knowledge and experiences of social media (good and BAD) that is teaching her how to cope with problems and manage conflits since mommy WON'T always be there to swoop in on her helicopter to chase away the meanies. I'll take it.

**ETA - for all of my fellow DIS-ers in this age group, I am certainly NOT talking about everyone! Just using a well-known statistic. Absolutely NO offense meant to any of you!

 

[mamacatnv]

My kids are 10 years apart - My DS was in 6th grade (2001) when kids with cells became fairly common along with all the bans in the schools. It used to tick me off how the schools resisted the introduction of the technology and then would confiscate phones that parents had to retrieve etc. Glad those days are over.

Fast forward (counting in her head) 15 years......My DD is now a Junior in high school and DS has completed graduate school. DD's school does not ban phones at all, the kids can have them in class, in the halls, on the bus and everywhere they go. They have chargers in their backpacks and charge when necessary. Due to block scheduling (longer class times) each class has a "technology" break during the instruction time where the kids are welcome to text, check their email etc. All the kids have laptops as well. DD has a Microsoft Surface at home but for $100 I rented her a laptop from her school for the year (the district has some sort of deal with Dell). The $100 is basically the cost of the insurance should it get lost, dropped, stolen etc. This was a win/win. I don't have to worry about her Surface being damaged/stolen and all the kids have computers at their fingertips.

I for one am glad to see the policies evolve and have the "its about time!" attitude.
Technology is not going anywhere, it is becoming more and more common and necessary.
It seems archaic to me to ban technology for students then turn around and mandate technology and the knowledge of how it all works for the workforce.

 

[katie01]

Slightly off the exact topic but this discussion made me think of it. About five years ago I went to a continuing ed conference (so all professional adults) where the woman giving the lecture just LIT INTO one of the attendees in the audience for looking at his cell phone. It wasn't ringing, or making noise, I was quite a few rows back so I don't know if he was texting or looking something up or what, but boy was the lecturer angry and told him in no uncertain terms that if he was going to look at his phone he could leave NOW, and that went for everyone there. You could have heard a pin drop, I think everyone felt embarrassed for the guy, and there had been no notification ahead of time that cell phones were prohibited or anything. I think of that lecturer now and wonder how it's going now trying to keep everyone from looking at their phones....the conference may have been more like seven years ago. Smart phones were already everywhere but maybe not quite as ubiquitous as they are now

 

[elaine amj]

I for one am glad to see the policies evolve and have the "its about time!" attitude.
Technology is not going anywhere, it is becoming more and more common and necessary.
It seems archaic to me to ban technology for students then turn around and mandate technology and the knowledge of how it all works for the workforce.

I agree - in my workplace, it is mandatory that you are comfortable with technology. It makes a massive difference in today's world. I'm all for my children knowing how to use it and feeling completely comfortable with learning as much as possible. In DD's 9th grade business class, they are teaching some computer programming basics (along with photo editing and your basic Excel and PPT) and she is having a blast with it. I highly encourage it - those are skills I still use every day (and I don't work in IT).

 

[aprilchem]

FWIW, I'm a college professor and students aren't allowed to have cell phones out or visible during class. If I see (or hear) a cell phone it's a 5% deduction to the final grade. I collect cell phones during examinations and the students can get them back at the end of the period. Most of my colleagues do the same.

I do make exceptions, however, for RAs on duty, students who have a family emergencies, or similar circumstances.

 

[NotUrsula]

My older child's middle and high schools banned them, but had a don't ask-don't tell policy during the school day; as long as it was not seen or heard, you would not get in trouble. If you were caught with one in your possession, your teacher could take it, and you could get it back on Friday afternoon from the office upon payment of a $20 fine. DS managed never to get caught with his until his very last day of school, when one of his friends was about to be a no-show for a final. DS, trying to be helpful, stood in the hall and texted the kid to get to the right classroom. Naturally, a teacher saw him do it, and we had to pony up the $20 that afternoon so that he could still graduate, LOL. DD's elementary school bans phones, though the middle and high schools allow them with restrictions, and they cannot be out in class.. The elementary does have ipads in the classrooms for educational use, but it's a public school with a wide range of socioeconomic situations, so they cannot require BYOD. (The ban on phones in elementary school is more for security than anything else; they don't want to police little kids keeping track of expensive devices, and they reason that at no older than 11, they are not altering their daily routine without school permission, so we know to just contact the school if there are any odd schedule changes, etc. Note to the teacher are the standard if you know ahead of time, of course.)

My feeling about phones in class is that if you don't want them being used, then have them placed where you, the instructor, can see them. What we do during meetings at work is to all take our phones out, silence them, and place them face-down on the conference table; this gesture makes it very clear that the phone will not be a distraction during the meeting. This is also how DS' college instructors handle most in-class situations, though there are some that, for major exams, will have the students leave their phones on the instructor's desk in a position relative to where the student is sitting in class (phones laid out on a grid.)

 

[DopeyDame]

Your high school has the wrong policies then if only 10% is used for school work.
Our high school was technology based. The school supply list for freshman had one item on it: A laptop with specific specifications. The school offered them for around $1,200 for the windows version and a bit more for the Mac version or you could provide your own. Students on free or reduced lunch could check one out from the school and nobody would know they were borrowing one. Comcast provides $10 a month internet for qualifying families so even struggling families could have access to all the school technology and assignments.

The wifi in the school was upgraded and every phone, pad, laptop was registered. To access the internet on a phone (cell providers internet was blocked, texting and calling was available), you had to provide your phone number and a text was sent with an access code. Things like snapchat and facebook were blocked.

I can't imagine having my children in a school so stuck in the past that the teachers do not believe that technology belongs in the classroom.

And I would much rather have somebody quietly plug in their phone than walk out of the classroom to go use the office phone. Or to have a lecture interrupted by an announcement telling Johnny to come down to the office because there is a phone call for him (blasts from the past.) The student can stay listening to the class material by glancing at his phone if Mom texts and says that Grandpa's surgery went well.

Although, if a student is getting up from their seat during a lecture, whether it is for plugging in a phone or something else, again, that is not a technology problem. That is a teacher control problem. The teacher does not have control of their classroom if the students are disrespectful and interrupting her lecture.

Is this a private school or a public school? Because expecting kids to all have $1200 laptops seems over-the-top to me. There is a huge chasm between "qualifies for reduced lunch" (and hence gets a free loaner laptop) and "I can afford to buy my kid a $1200 computer" especially for families with multiple kids.