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”?

Why were tamagotchis and gameboys and cellphones banned in class when I was growing up but not these days?

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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/

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 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.

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.