Should cellphones be banned in schools?

[AviatorTom]

Some schools have banned student cellphones. A school in Australia saw behavioral problems decrease.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-sydney-high-school-banned-mobile-phones-it-had-dramatic-results-20220803-p5b6zf.html

A school in California has banned cellphones.

https://go2tutors.com/fresno-high-school-cell-phones/

And a Greenfield UK school district allows students to have cellphones, but keeps them locked up during classes.

https://universitynews.uk/the-greenfield-school-board-unanimously-voted-in-favor-of-locking-student-cell-phones-in-yeondol-pouches-at-schools/

An argument against cellphones is that schools worked just fine until cellphones entered the mainstream for students, which was about 25 years ago, and they do cause distractions during class.

An argument for cellphones in schools is that the student can keep in touch with their parents, especially in an emergency, and parents can keep track of their children by using the phone's tracking mechanism.

What do you think? Should student cellphones be banned? Locked up? Allowed?

[OlderAndWiser]

"An argument for cellphones in schools is that the student can keep in touch with their parents, especially in an emergency. . ." Most kids will go through their entire high school career without even one emergency phne call from parents. If tere is an emergency, parents can call the school and get a message to the child.

"and parents can keep track of their children by using the phone's tracking mechanism." And any kid who doesn' want to be tracked will know to leave the cell phone somewhere that is not suspicious when they want to disappear from the tracking radar.

[Sixgunsound]

Parents can call the main office if something significant is happening outside of school. They will need to deal with the attendance secretary at a minimum if the student is leaving anyways, may as well save time by starting the process of leaving early where it will have to end up anyways.

[Rebel_Queen]

Allowed, but kept in a backpack or pocket bag or something to keep it from being a distraction and kept on silent, not vibrate. When my phone vibrates I automatically check it, so silent is best for school, or class

[Snsl153]

They should be banned everywhere, not just in schools.

[AviatorTom]

Why? Cellphones perform useful functions in many situations

[Snsl153]

Yeah, sure they do. :D :D :D
They're a nuisance.

[Amy10223]

No, I don’t think so. With all the things happening in schools today, they can certainly be used as a means of communication when safety is an issue.
Students should be taught and rules should be abided on when they can be used, otherwise a teacher can remove the cell from a student and return it at another time.

[Surely]

I wasn’t even allowed to use a calculator in school!

If your parents needed you for something. They called the office secretaries and someone came and got you out of class.

Probably why most younger people are never good at mental math

[Fireguy17]

The use of them during class time should be banned, but lunch time would be fine, and for emergencies.

[AviatorTom]

How do you enforce the "cut RV ing class tine" rulut

[AviatorTom]

Let's try this again..
How do you enforce the "during class time" ban?

[Fireguy17]

Pretty clueless on that other than install jammers throughout the school, but that wouldn't be cheap and I'm sure most schools could find a better use for that money.
Judges?

[josephinelcajon]

No but should be not used during class time. They are used for everything including medical.

[AviatorTom]

@josephinelcajon Good point. How would you suggest enforcing the "no use during class" rule. Would that be justification to confiscate the student's phone (for the day at least), for example?

[josephinelcajon]

Teachers had no problem monitoring the class when I was in school. They saw everything! Eyes behind their heads! I think the problem is class size and distracted teachers not cell phones. Teach our kids to use them responsibly! Kids in uniforms do better it teaches you a mind set! There is a time to work and a time to play.

[NathanDavis]

nope... smartphones are a necessity and a must today, in this case is about safety

so phones should not be banned from schools, they just have to do a better job with monitoring during classes, adults should be better adults, that's all

[exitseven]

yes, when I was in grade school kids used to try and sneak in a sony walkman. the teachers were always confiscating them. Kids dont need to be screwing with their phones during school. I teach computer science at a college and the first night I tell the kids no cell phone.

[purplepoppy]

Were kids really well behaved 25 years ago? I'm guessing not. Problem kids will always find a way to misbehave. I say let them have them but kept on silent and out of sight in class

[mr4435669]

When I was at school my family didn't want to buy me a phone, when I was 14 they bought me an Alcatel, I didn't like it and I used it, I mean I would have liked it if they had banned phones at school.

[mr4435669]

When I was in school my family didn't want to buy me a phone, when I was 14 they bought me an Alcatel, I didn't like it and I never used it, so I would have liked it if they had banned phones at school.

[Wade12345]

Should be banned. Previous generations got along just fine without cell phones at school.

If my kid ever wants a cellphone they can get a job and pay their own bill.

[RavVid]

The lock up pouches are a good idea. Constant interruptions have a negative impact on concentration as bad as not getting any sleep. Much the same applies to immediately answering emails.

[Dinklex3]

As long as they aren't being used in the classroom I don't see an issue.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

They were talking in Pittsburgh PA about banning cellphones from schools cause the phones were causing disturbance among the students.

[DryGermanGuy]

As I understand it, most German schools ban them for anyone below the age of 18.

[DCooper]

It's easy enough to just install jammers throughout the school.

[qwert1234]

Not banned, but should not be used during classes except on emergencies.

[douride2]

They should neve have been allowed to start with.

[In_Trance]

I don't think phones can be banned anywhere anymore. Use of them can and should be prohibited though. No reason to have a phone in school

[maximumpower]

Not necessarily banned, but their use tightly controlled.

[Andres77]

Turned off.

if it’s spotted, locked up.

[RealMarek]

Yes, absolutely.

[AsaKyo]

What if something happens and a student can't contact their parent to come get them?

[AviatorTom]

School personnel can contact the parents... like it was done before cellphones.

[landingout2]

nope in case of emergencys