Welcome to today’s Daily Question! Today we want to know your views on the issue every parent seems to talking about these days. There are no wrong answers, just your opinion. So tell us…
Loading ...
Feel free to elaborate in the comments if you’d like.
And check back each weekday for a new Daily Question from silly to serious.
Your voice matters and we love hearing from you.
Top image: Getty/Unsplash +
I wanted to say they could use them during free periods but what will happen is that each class will end up being a free period. There will we whining, begging, all kinds of things to get the teacher to say, “okay, just for today” and then we’ll be right back where we are. I have a master’s degree in educating students, not being a phone monitor. I’d like to be able to teach under one rule and not have to think about what to do today. The kids that need them for medical reasons will have a 504 or IEP stating that, so that’s just an excuse.
The kids I drive to school have talked about how much anxiety they have about school shootings and how having a phone helps that anxiety. Honestly as a parent it helps mine too.
I am a parent and a former educator. I know it is difficult to deal with kids and phones but I don’t think a ban is realistic or even necessarily healthy. Teaching kids how to handle and balance the use of a device is important though.
I like that my tenth grader has his phone for safety reasons – he’s used it to contact me during multiple scares/lockdowns. Or when he’s not feeling well. He is able to show restraint and only uses it during appropriate times. It’s a good skill as others have said. Many kids at his school are on their phones during class and even have headphones on. It’s crazy and disrespectful but the teachers have given up on trying to control it. At another HS in our town the teachers collect them as kids walk thru the door…. So they are accessible in case of an emergency.
Until we get a handle on guns, I want my teen to have her phone with her. Though I do think it does create more work for parents and teachers. Discussions about what they see on social media and monitoring has to happen. And we as parents need to model healthy phone use too.
My concerns are the guns too. Until we have more robust safety measures in place, I want my kids to be able to have a phone.
My son’s HS has a no phones policy. When he walks on campus it must be turned off and gets turned into a phone shelf as he enters each class. But I’m glad he has access to it. His school was locked down last week because of a gun on the HS campus next door and his teacher immediately gave the boys their phones back to allow them to contact us.
What a world. Thanks for sharing that perspective, and so glad he and his friends are okay.
My son had a scary lockdown last year when a gun was seen in campus. If this country decides to do something about the gun epidemic then I don’t mind no phones in the classroom. But we can’t take away kids ability to say goodbye or get comfort from their families during horrific moments that are all too frequent.
I was in high school almost 20 years ago when not everybody had phones and they were immediately confiscated if seen at any point during the school day. My best friend still found a way to rack up a $1,000 bill texting her boyfriend. My thought is that kids will find a way. And phones today are tools as much as they are distractions. We need technology literacy starting early (elementary school!) and parents need to teach their kids responsibility with devices.
Parent and teacher weighing in. As a parent I want the cell phone available to my kid in the classroom in case of emergency. If my kid is using the phone when they should be doing school the teacher is within their right to hold the phone until the end of class. As a teacher I want the phones away. I understand parents (hello I’m one!) want the phones available in an emergency. The phones should be collected and stored in some sort of caddy so kids are tempted to be on them.
But we/teachers need administrators and parents who will support us in not having kids on phones during class.
Kids have to learn, at some point, that phones are tools. They allow you to look things up, follow your passions on social media, and maybe even call your mom. They are also vehicles for harassment, shortened attention spans, and not learning how to be with your thoughts. For students, the downsides far outweigh the upsides. The school shooting angle, though…yikes.
I’m an educator and a school board member, so I know what havoc phones are wreaking on the school day. But the thought that my kids couldn’t reach me if the worst was happening is a nightmare.
Parent and educator here. I hate the no phone police. It just isn’t realistic. For one, I know many teens w burner phones bc their parents won’t let them have any. I also know a lot of the drama I deal w as a school counselor is parents who obsessively track their kids every breath via the phone. A solution I think is smart is developing policies that help kids manage screen time during learning time. This will give them skills as adult college learners and/or employees. Forcing the phones out of school won’t help that at all.
I’m sorry parents feel like they can’t say that kids need their phones. However, I don’t care if a kid has a phone as long as I don’t see it or have to deal with it. I am a teacher and have kids so I get it. Teach your kids proper use and don’t text them during the day.
My concern with cell phone ban at school- which I’m all for- is what if there’s a school shooting? Or my daughter has something she needs to urgently tell me- that’s my hesitation. It’s safety.
Depend on the ages of the students. Phones or smart watches can be distraction. They have to be responsible to use it when they really need it. It teaches them to learn responsibility as they grow up to be adult and when they work.
Kids with medical conditions need access to their phones for monitoring of their condition and communication w parents and medical staff.
My son’s sophomore year two kids murdered another kid on campus and the campus was locked down until 7pm with helicopters flying over head and NO WORD FROM ADMINISTRATION but luckily all of our kids had cell phones and could tell us what was going on and also that they were safe. If we solve violence at school we can take away phones at school but absolutely not before the first problem is solved. Think about all the 911 calls from school shootings. And final texts for that matter. Also things like pay phones no longer exist.
Btw I voted not a fan but to be clear my feelings are school violence related not kid health related. I’ve experienced it myself and can confirm…the cell phones were important. They also provided evidence in the murder case (there weren’t security cameras by the pool where he was killed). They ALSO did disturbing things like post pics of the dead kid on Snapchat and that’s a problem for sure, but I was so grateful the kids had their phones. I was also grateful it was a stabbing vs a shooting because that’s the difference between one and many murdered kids.
BTW my kids are in a wealthy white suburb, in case anyone is thinking this is not theirs to worry about. Solve the violence problem and I will revisit the cell phone problem.
My kids will have a device on them. Not sorry. If not a phone, then their Apple Watches.
I felt strongly about it already, then Uvalde happened. “The teacher has a phone” isn’t good enough. What if the teacher is shot and bleeding out on the floor?
Our country is disgusting. Phones in schools are the least of our worries.
We had an accidental code red months ago and our emergency system *failed* because it relies on teacher’s personal cell phones as a contact point. So our middle school orchestra unknowingly played through the Code Red like the goddamn band on the Titantic.
Thank god it was a false alarm.