Banning cellphones in schools

[Gizmo]

So today is the first day of the second school term in New Zealand and so the law for banning cellphones in schools has taken effect.

While I understand that this may be good especially to get kids to interact with one another and to no longer have fights and bullying filmed during school time with students I find it unfair that the teachers and school staff have to police this especially when they've got a lot of other stuff to worry about and a lot of teachers have more students than they should due to funding in New Zealand.

If your country decided to ban cellphones during school time in schools do you think it would work?

 

[KensonPlays]

Thankfully I never had that in high school back in 2009. I mean, they could offer basic smartphones as rentals, with some school admin apps running in the background that maybe lets them access certain apps during class times, and free use during lunch breaks, etc?

 

[Gizmo]

The one thing that worries me is how people will react when the teachers and school staff have to try to enforce this law on their schools. Some people can get really nasty.

 

[Page]

Honestly I see it both ways. I think that banning smartphones won’t instantly make kids start paying attention in class, I believe part of that lies on the school and the education system for not understanding what kids needs are. I get a lot of it relies on the individual school but as a pretty good student growing up right in the middle of when phones were getting big, I didn’t see them as an issue, just that they were highlighting a larger issue. Personally, and I’ve heard others my age say this as well, school was insanely repetitive over most things. The tendency usually tended to be this (note this happens over several years of school 😛

 

[MrDawn]

If your country decided to ban cellphones during school time in schools do you think it would work?

They're trying to do that here in the US. The schools mandated this year that the students aren't allowed to use their cellphones during school hours, they say it's a distraction.

 

[Katrina]

As a former sub in the school system, I'm ALL FOR THIS!! I've caught students trying to cheat on tests before because they had their phones cradled in their laps. I've had kids take pics of me without my permission. I've had kids not do their work and just be on their phones, doing whatever. So yeah, don't let the kids use phones during the school day.

 

[PGen98]

100% agreed, take it away, they have no logical need for it during a class or really at all during school hours unless there's an emergency. The second you walk into a classroom, the phone goes into a cradle near the door, you leave i there, you take it when class is over. Place it in your assigned cradle. Easy.

 

[Van Daan]

Honestly I see it both ways. I think that banning smartphones won’t instantly make kids start paying attention in class, I believe part of that lies on the school and the education system for not understanding what kids needs are. I get a lot of it relies on the individual school but as a pretty good student growing up right in the middle of when phones were getting big, I didn’t see them as an issue, just that they were highlighting a larger issue. Personally, and I’ve heard others my age say this as well, school was insanely repetitive over most things. The tendency usually tended to be this (note this happens over several years of school 😛

What will make them align with the thoughts that phones are big distractions beats my imagination. Academics excellence is achieved when students have a keen interest in what they are learning, and this doesn't count whether they bring mobile devices to the school or not.

 

[Felly]

My local school divisions have largely banned cell phone use. Back when I was in school, we were allowed to have cell phones, but they had to be off and out of sight during the school day. They've changed things since I graduated, and there's certain times where students can use cell phones during the school day, but it's still heavily restricted. I don't mind it in this fashion, where it's restricted until the end of the school day, because the focus should be on learning and doing school work to the best of the student's ability.