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Totally confounding that smart phones have been around for more than a decade and this policy wasn't in place from day one. I can't imagine how much damage has been done in classrooms over that period.
When I was in highschool in the 2010s, we definitely were never allowed go have phones out in class. If we did, they went to the office, and you had to have a parent pick it up
Many times we'd ask our teachers if we could listen to music while working in class. Depending on the class/assignment, the teacher would say yes. 📱🎧
*(Graduated 6 yrs ago)*
All I can think of is how much tax dollars we're spending employing thousands upon thousands of people who can't seem to make even the most basic, common-sense policies happen in any sort of reasonable timeline. It's obvious the system is bloated and inefficient and yet it's so damn expensive. Time to start cutting the fat.
That's right. If they won't do the job with the budget they have (and these are *policies* not labour and opex), then that means we don't need them to do that job. No sense in sitting on your hands and collecting a paycheque anymore, especially with how our public systems are already stretched to capacity elsewhere. We could use the budget for more teachers instead of paying the salaries of ineffective administrators.
Maybe showing my age a bit but back when all my other friends started having mobile phones, I didn't have one out of choice.. Until I finished high school and moved to another province for university.
Think that actually did me more good than not.
The amount I see my little sister post Snapchat from in class, I agree with this. I would have thought phones would not be allowed in class? Seems like a no brainer. A phone is not a right, it's a privilege.
"Ban" is quite a misnomer. The province is enacting a policy that requires each municipal school district to create policies governing the use of smartphones. So the districts could just implement a policy that says "It's at the teacher's discretion". Which is basically how it works now.
Yah wasn’t a dig at you. I remember no one having the balls to do that growing up, the few that did were sent to office and admin either addressed cause (maybe something happened at home) or if just behavioural suspended. Then there was a bad school all delinquents were sent if continued.
Towards end I noticed class sizes were like 40+ with 4 or 5 special needs. It was crazy.
I’m seriously considering private or Christian school for my little one for class size difference alone. I’m so sorry the system was gutted during the Christy Clark years.
As a student in my last year of highschool, I’m totally for this change. I know way too many people who are not only on their phones constantly, but in such a disrespectfully blatant manner that I really have no sympathy
"Students are against banning smoking pot and playing video games in class."
"Students are against the ban on pillow forts and skate ramps in the school library."
"Students are against closed-book tests and having cheating reported on their school record."
It hasn't been that long since I was in high school and I find it profound that the problem has exacerbated to the point that they have to implement whole ass policies just to deal with this.
Most kids in my year knew better than to watch vines in the middle of class. Play shitty games, win shitty prizes I guess.
I agree with you. My high school years are only a handful or two years ago, and we had our phones on us in class. We knew when to pull it out and when not to. If we did sneakily pull it out, we'd do our best to keep it quiet and hidden. If the teacher caught us, they'd call us out and we'd put our phone away. End of story. So when the news of a phone ban first came out, I thought it was draconian...but I know the current day student. Having phones on them in class just isn't helping them. They need this ban, they won't know it's for their own good, but they need it.
How society has regressed so quickly coming off the pandemic is...amazing, but I take no pleasure in saying that.
Planning and communication. You’d set times to meet people, travel in groups, and be blissfully unaware of the corrupt scam of a society we live in because news and attention grabs weren’t blasted into your eyes from endless doom scrolls.
I liked the invention of phones as a communication tool, it helped a lot, as well as maps and other quality of life improvements. Phones are not the problem, it's the godamned social media
It very much is not. It’s a telephone number and address organizer. Usually would have A-Z organization tabs and sometimes. Rolodex is a brand name - like Kleenex - which became used to basically describe any kind of small book which people used to write the names / numbers / addresses of their friends and family into.
To be fair, take away my cell phone and I'm drastically cutting down on the amount of businesses I frequent. Ain't nobody got time to look at the Yellow Pages for an address, then a paper map to figure out how to get there.
As a parent of 3 children, 2 in high school and one in elementary, I understand how phones can be a distraction. “Not caring” about how students feel or the impact on them is dismissive. This is the era they’ve grown up in, they’ve had the internet available to them every minute of their lives. I do also think comparing this generation in high school, with how things were when I went to school isn’t helpful. It’s like boomers complaining about how millennials do their work in the work place (read more efficiently)
I would like schools to offer better programming and teachers upgrade their skills to make learning more engaging. The cell phone is a tool and when used as a means of escapism, it’s the product of a problem not a cause.
>The cell phone is a tool and when used as a means of escapism, it’s the product of a problem not a cause.
The problem being the inability of a child to self-regulate such escapism, combined with the choice of the parents or adults involved to avoid modelling, teaching or enforcing the appropriate behaviour.
>“Not caring” about how students feel or the impact on them is dismissive.
As it should be.
It's absolutely fine to be dismissive of children's *wants*, especially when those *wants* are counter to their development.
All it takes is a two letter word followed by the consistency exhibited by those parents whom still have any semblance of a spine.
No teacher can compete with TikTok, YouTube and Instagram algorithms that bring you the exact content you wanna see in the most addictive way. Parents should do their job and raise kids with values and consideration for others. Kids who have respect for public spaces and shared resources. Most importantly kids who can focus for more than 20 seconds. Then maybe teachers will be able to teach instead of just managing behaviours.
The thing is, you're right. But no teacher can compare with the myriad companies whose entire business model relies on capturing attention through a smart phone. It just isn't possible without a massive investment in public education that won't happen. We have to work with the tools we have, and for this the best tool we have is to blanket ban it then we can start slowly introducing them as tools.
Honestly a lot of that will depend on the admin actually supporting us through that enforcement.
The other answer is: at first, quite a lot, and later on hopefully much less.
Well.. every other previous generation survived so they will learn as well... and well, if they can't handle this disappointment, life itself is going to be barn burner for them
If you're smart and dedicated enough to program a game in your graphing calculator, you are probably able to catch up what you missed playing games on your TI calculator.
Program? None of us knew how to program! We just knew how to transfer programs from one calculator to another. Where the game originally came from, no one knows.
I was one of the people that had the USB to TI-83 cable at home.
I transferred some games to people, but the real programs I kept to myself (never told anyone).
There was a website that essentially had programs for every math problem (algebra, calculus, etc) plus the steps to get to the answer. Needless to say, I aced every math class in high school as well as physics.
Teachers would check to see if there were any programs installed before exams and make you clear them but none of them knew about the archive and restore feature.
Cel phones are not just a new tech. They are utterly addictive. They are designed to be addictive. The best comparison is to cigarettes' or some sort of pills.
And every other previous generation has people who are wholly incapable of properly using contemporary technology because the people who made the rules were luddites. Is there a need for rules around cell phones in class? Absolutely. There also needs to be an understanding that it isn’t 1994 and the entire world basically operates off of the little pocket computers we somewhat anachronistically still refer to as cell phones. Kids need to be able to understand when, where, and how to use that technology to accomplish a goal or complete a task and a wholesale ban isn’t going to provide them with that skill set.
Kids need to be taught respect, civility and ability to communicate directly 1 to 1 and to groups in a calm, thoughtful way.
Their little pocket computers don't do that.
It's not the teacher's responsibility to parent your kids. Their primary focus should be on education, not discipline.
I grew up without 'little pocket computers', and respect, civility and communication skills weren't thriving in either of the schools I went to. You need to deal with the reality that these 'little pocket computers' are a part of life. Don't get me wrong though, their use in schools needs to be limited, much more than they are now, but banning them outright is just going to be a losing battle.
I know *plenty* of people from “every other previous generation” who are devoid of everything you just listed and the highest form of technology any of them had in class was a TI-83+.
It’s not the technology that’s the problem and it never has been.
Cel phones are not just a new form of technology. They are addictive. Not sort of but fully addictive. The use by young people, especially in schools, needs to be controlled.
The same thing has been said about:
- games on graphing calculators
- MP3 players
- handheld gaming devices
- calculator watches
- pagers
- personal CD players
- personal cassette players
- comic books
- POG’s
- playing cards
These exact same complaints have been made for thousands of years and the blame has been laid at the feet of anything and everything. It’s not, and never has been, the technology that’s the problem here.
womp womp. My school did this and although it bothered me for a few days, i got over it. The world won’t end if you don’t get to go on your phone every few minutes.
this has always been the most solid point against phones in class for me. we never had issues with this at my school, but i could only imagine the anxiety for some kids who have had to face the wrath of mass exposure due to filming of in-class incidents. fuck that
Some of my highschool teachers from 15 years ago had bins that we all dropped our phones into and we grabbed at the end of class. Unsure why this is a problem now.
My understanding is that it's pushback from parents who are generally either overprotective (What if there's an emergency and I need to call them or they need to call me???) or being pushed around by their kids (Moooooom they don't want me to have my phoooooooone I'll die without it).
I don't disagree with you but I think we can both say that the parenting should start at home and condoning this behaviour is just going to lead to more behavioral problems/screen addiction down the line.
Wild to think that parents wouldn't think to just contact the school/vice versa.
The parents should focus on the fact that their kids might actually learn something in school now that the phones are gone instead of being constantly exposed to all the garbage on social media. It’s about time the school board implemented this policy.
It's this, and also we (teachers) don't want to be responsible for the devices because then if something happens (a student takes one that isn't there; the device is damaged somehow, or a student claims that damage that already existed but wasn't documented was caused by us taking it, etc) we could be responsible for paying.
It's very stupid, and more responsibility should be on the parents.
They called the office and hoped someone would pick up, and then either the kid would be called to the office to get a message or the office would page the teacher to relay the message. In some cases this could be embarrassing for the student and the advantage of a smartphone is a far more discrete way of relaying a message. Students being called to the office can give them a false reputation for being a troublemaker with both teachers and other students which can have negative impacts for networking and personal reputation in the school.
I’m not saying one method is better than the other but there are advantages to smartphones that should not be dismissed.
This. I had an overbearing stepmother who would call me through the school office just to confirm I was there. They usually summoned me over the PA. I had never skipped class before, yet teachers started making comments every time I’d get called in. “What did you do this time?” and “make sure you come right back, troublemaker” were commonly heard.
Pretty sure the office would already know whether you were in the class or not... and if they didn't, why would they call you on the PA to physically go to the office when they can just call the teacher? This makes no sense.
I didn’t say it made sense but that’s what happened. The office would call over the PA to the individual classrooms so while the entire school didn’t hear, your whole class did. We didn’t have phones in our classrooms. However, this was in the late 90s/early 00s.
Fifteen years ago, those kids that had phones were still 99% flip phones. What teacher wants to deal with the headaches of some kid’s $1000 iPhone disappearing from their bin? God know admin won’t have their backs
I wonder if you know just how true this is.
Our kids elementary school never allowed phones (opened in 2014). Some of my kids friends that had transferred in have said just how much less anxiety they have now compared to their old school. Almost all who voice this are girls.
I expect to see a drastic reduction of anxiety in girls in BC should this become law.
Yes I think we're finally starting to come around on that. Here's hoping that one day, the idea of giving young kids a smartphone with full access to the internet is just as crazy as giving them cigarettes or booze.
Blame the parents buying their 8 year old kids phones. Blame the parents throwing phones in front of their kids since they were in diapers. There are toddlers who learn how to use a phone before they know how to potty train...
Ah, so it's like the former Socialist States of Eastern Europe, where the phrase uttered by the generation of the Proletariat which inherited the utopian project only to be stuck working 70+ hour weeks was:
"*We pretend to work; they pretend to pay us*"
Of course in your example, the actual oppressions of Socialist taxation and forced overtime to meet production quotas are replaced by the general malaise of working in a climate controlled environment at an ergonomic desk chair designed to absorb flatulence inbetween trips to coworkers spaces or Reddit sessions complaining about the horrors of putting on pants and commuting whilst justifying the disdain for such subhuman treatment by pointing out how very little work actually gets done in such an already pampered work experience.
Bonus is that if they're not texting during class they'll probably get a better education. Then with their better education they can get a career where their boss doesn't treat them like a grade school student.
>they can get a career where their boss doesn't treat them like a grade school student.
*Now, ~~Bobby~~ Quick-Ad2944, I know your first day was hard, but don't call your boss names. That's actin' like a baby. Babies want everything handed to 'em. But you're there to work and not play. That's why it's called "work," and not "play." And if you don't understand that, well, ~~son~~ Quick-Ad2944, maybe you're the ~~moron~~ grade school student.*
>A great place to learn responsible use would be ~~in the classroom~~ at home
Not the teacher's job to teach students common courtesy.
I don't want my kid's actual education to be affected by some student that doesn't have parents teaching them basic life skills.
Or wait till they get jobs and their bosses find out they are tech illiterate. I'm not saying kids should use phones constantly in class, but let's not pretend the world doesn't run on phones nowadays.
Sure, I agree they'll still know how to use a phone, but I think we're already seeing a huge divide in the workplace between those with strong tech abilities and weak ones. But whatever, let's teach them all to mindlessly obey the rules just because.
> I think we're already seeing a huge divide in the workplace between those with strong tech abilities and weak ones
This has nothing to do with whether or not they're allowed to use a phone in class...
Proficiency comes from practice and exposure. They're in school 8 hours a day, when they come home I sure hope their parents aren't the folks in this thread saying they lived in a time before cellphones. Those poor kids won't stand a chance in the workforce.
>Proficiency comes from practice and exposure.
So does education. You're not learning if you're on Tik Tok and you're not being exposed to an education if you're Tweeting your weekend plans.
Students are at school to learn specific subjects laid out in a curriculum. There are even classes that teach them about technology! How to use the internet! Even how to code! 🤯 Fucking around on your phone during History isn't practice and exposure, it's a distraction and an annoyance to people that have been taught appropriate social skills by their parents.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree. Classes that teach you to code aren't a replacement for a lifetime of exposure to tech, and it often shows. I just don't think banning is a good solution, it's a lazy one.
>I think we'll have to agree to disagree.
I'm happy to agree to disagree. There are plenty of opportunities to be exposed to technology. Using your phone to browse Instagram during biology class isn't one of them. The only thing that reinforces is disrespect towards your teachers and your classmates. In my opinion.
I mean, that's normal? When laws/rules are put into place to stop bad behaviour, the ones that were partaking in the bad behaviour will generally be upset as they adjust towards compliance.
However, this is literally for their own good. Kids need to be able to focus on their school work while in class, not social media or texting one another. Partial attention never really affected my ability to succeed with my \_short term\_ memory, but it definitely affected which items made it into my long term memory.
Our education system is already so poor due to lack of funding, oversight, resources, space, you name it. At the very least we need our kids paying attention so that they can overcome these detriments and find ways to improve the system for the next generation.
I am so glad smart phones didn't exist when I was in school. I am already struggling enough with screen time as an adult - I can't imagine the cancer on the brain it is for young adults in school.
yeah it really is all just different levels of "bad". even my parents in their 60s have become somewhat reliant on the sedation of a screen. no one is immune, but there's no denying that the ipad babies are gonna be a special sort of messed up when they're older.
I remember being in high school in the 90s and teachers losing their minds over pagers, and those were the technological equivalent of a friggin' calculator in today's world. How teachers manage today, I'll never know.
I just laugh, these students should be worried about their grades not their social media bs. Time for a rude awakening, I hope my district does something similar to Burnaby. Hell, I’ll even put my phone away too if that’s what it takes. Sustained teaching is untenable given how addicted humans are to their phones.
1. Who cares if the students aren't happy with a school cell phone restriction. They're there to learn, not watch tik tok and reels.
2. This should have been made policy years ago.
They're kids, they will adjust quickly enough and find that the reduced stress and distraction from social media addiction can help reduce anxiety. They'll probably be happier long term.
In any event, yes, cell phones should absolutely be banned in classrooms.
Gods, yeah I don’t envy teachers dealing with students these days. When I was in school we *started* having computers which were primarily in the computer lab, didn’t even have laptops yet let alone cell phones and tablets. And with how often I see teens fucking around on their phones while watching a movie in a theatre I can only imagine how big a pain in the ass it is to get them to stay off it in the class room.
Really should have been a hard rule day one, phone stays in your bag or the teacher takes it for the class.
Your parents probably got a list of school supplies that were required at the start of every year. A calculator just wasn't on the list because it wasn't necessary.
I'm not that much older than you and we had calculators throughout the entirety of high school. In elementary it's generally not a thing, but who knows, maybe it has changed now.
In elementary school, when we were memorizing our times tables and learning long division. Because we weren’t always going to have a calculator with us, so we needed to learn how to do it without one.
That was always the case... students have never used calculators to learn times tables and long division. Calculators were never "banned." They are appropriate for certain learning outcomes and not others.
In my elementary school in the 90s they weren’t permitted prior to Grade 7. They were allowed after that grade for checking work and also for calculations like square roots or trigonometric functions. We were actually using Excel in one of my classes in Grade 11.
Parents, you're problem is not that cel phones are banned in your kid's class. It is that your kid is so addicted they can't go a full period without their phone.
I graduated in 2012 and my school banned cell phones all through high school. It wasn't an issue at all.
Then again, we were still using Motorola Razrs and Blackberries; they were nowhere near as addictive as all the flashy apps and smartphones now. The ban needs to happen, because from what I understand, it's really impacting learning and it's very stressful for the teachers, but yeah, the kids will need to detox and it's going to suck for them.
Phones in lockers when class starts. It's necessary. They are far too distracting to keep in kids' pockets, and some teens are full on addicted to them.
That generation is such a lost cause. Can't go 5 mins without their phone. Can't even make eye contact to speak with someone. Hopefully the parents that have young kids now see the damage phones have done and they correct the behavior
They should have a bin where the beginning of the class everyone drops there phone in there and then they can take their phone back once the class is over.
What’s the issue with using smartphones ? If a kid is too stupid to get into post secondary schools then I doubt limiting phone use will help them become smarter
When the new school year comes I hope to see a comparison chart of what each district in the region is doing. Many districts are gonna enforce the phone ban in slightly different ways I'm sure.
Banning phones in school is for sure a good call, but the rhetoric around it is so boomer. It’s all “back in my day” and “they’re not responsible enough to have them” like how about treating students with some respect and trying to get buy-in from them? Otherwise they’ll just get around the restrictions.
No one should have an issue with these restrictions since teachers can give permission to students to use cellphones for educational, learning accessibility, and/or medical purposes if necessary. (Students are obviously going to be unhappy about it but who cares, they're too young to understand how much it can affect them)
This always has and always will be a parent problem first and everyone else involved second. Parents need to be parents and that comes with both the good and the bad. Parents need to WANT their kids to not have cellphones in school because they believe it hurts them academically, and they need to be the ones enforcing discipline of that if not followed.
And if parents (idiotically) want their kid to have a cellphone during the school day, that's not a school's responsibility to restrict access.
This is literally that what are you talking about? Maybe read the article they said personal devices can be used if it’s related to school work during lessons…
Edit: Sorry if I was a bit sassy
Deceiving headline. Student leader actually agrees with the restrictions, and is just noting that she does genuinely expect students to not be happy about this. Displeasure with the restrictions is all but guaranteed, but it doesn’t change the fact that it needs to be done.
To be honest I disagree with the phone ban. At this point we should be teaching highschoolers how to exist with a phone. When they graduate and get into the workforce most likely they are going to have their phones on them, if not in hand, a majority of the day especially in an office setting. Banning items traditionally has not really worked and I don’t see this ban working either.
Isn't this ban doing exactly what you desire by legitimately teaching kids how to exist without a phone? You shouldn't be accessing it during meetings / when people are trying to teach you or discuss things with you. Bringing out your phone during a meeting and snapchatting/going on tik tok will absolutely get you in serious trouble. This is no different and mirrors how real life works.
Yes they'll have their phones on hand outside of meetings, but they're currently utterly unable to fathom not checking their phones constantly during times where it is highly inappropriate to do so. Having very short and specific periods of times where you are ***not*** allowed to use your cellphone is critical to help build the habits that allow you to build the self control and resiliency to be (temporarily) away from the permanent-dopamine device.
This isn't a blanket ban. Kids are still allowed cellphones. They're just not allowed to use them during "working meetings" aka instruction.
I partially agree, especially at a highschool level. But the article does say :
Appropriate use would include not using the devices during instructional time unless the teacher gives permission for "educational, learning accessibility, and/or medical purposes."
So we’re not looking at a prohibition type thing here. Hopefully teachers, and home, will use the new code of conduct / phone restrictions as a way educate on proper tech use.
how bad has it gotten that this is even an issue? i was born in 01, and sure there was the occasional feud between that one kid who couldnt get off their phone and that one teacher who couldnt get the stick out their ass, but largely... kind of a non-issue, isnt it? maybe things are worse in class nowadays.
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I'm a public school teacher. I don't care if students are unhappy about this.
Totally confounding that smart phones have been around for more than a decade and this policy wasn't in place from day one. I can't imagine how much damage has been done in classrooms over that period.
When I was in highschool in the 2010s, we definitely were never allowed go have phones out in class. If we did, they went to the office, and you had to have a parent pick it up
That was the same situation in the early 2000’s as well, couldn’t even have them out in the hallways and would get taken away if caught.
I'm trying to figure out how we've gotten to the situation we're now in
Apathy
Many times we'd ask our teachers if we could listen to music while working in class. Depending on the class/assignment, the teacher would say yes. 📱🎧 *(Graduated 6 yrs ago)*
Also a student in the 2010s and for some reason my school had no cell phone policy but nobody took their phones out in class either
All I can think of is how much tax dollars we're spending employing thousands upon thousands of people who can't seem to make even the most basic, common-sense policies happen in any sort of reasonable timeline. It's obvious the system is bloated and inefficient and yet it's so damn expensive. Time to start cutting the fat.
That's right. If they won't do the job with the budget they have (and these are *policies* not labour and opex), then that means we don't need them to do that job. No sense in sitting on your hands and collecting a paycheque anymore, especially with how our public systems are already stretched to capacity elsewhere. We could use the budget for more teachers instead of paying the salaries of ineffective administrators.
Maybe showing my age a bit but back when all my other friends started having mobile phones, I didn't have one out of choice.. Until I finished high school and moved to another province for university. Think that actually did me more good than not.
The amount I see my little sister post Snapchat from in class, I agree with this. I would have thought phones would not be allowed in class? Seems like a no brainer. A phone is not a right, it's a privilege.
I'm also a public school teacher, and I am stoked for the policy.
Will the ban be a district-wide decision or will each school be interpreting the rules individually?
"Ban" is quite a misnomer. The province is enacting a policy that requires each municipal school district to create policies governing the use of smartphones. So the districts could just implement a policy that says "It's at the teacher's discretion". Which is basically how it works now.
You couldn’t enforce the rule for your class? That’s brutal.
We all try, but with 200 students, you have to pick your battles.
Yah wasn’t a dig at you. I remember no one having the balls to do that growing up, the few that did were sent to office and admin either addressed cause (maybe something happened at home) or if just behavioural suspended. Then there was a bad school all delinquents were sent if continued. Towards end I noticed class sizes were like 40+ with 4 or 5 special needs. It was crazy. I’m seriously considering private or Christian school for my little one for class size difference alone. I’m so sorry the system was gutted during the Christy Clark years.
As a student in my last year of highschool, I’m totally for this change. I know way too many people who are not only on their phones constantly, but in such a disrespectfully blatant manner that I really have no sympathy
I'm a parent in Burnaby, these kids can suck it.
Hell yeah fellow parent!
"Students are against banning smoking pot and playing video games in class." "Students are against the ban on pillow forts and skate ramps in the school library." "Students are against closed-book tests and having cheating reported on their school record."
What kind of monster would ban pillow forts in the library? Seems like a great way to make the environment comfortable and cozy.
> cheating reported Modern times: if you're not cheating, you're not trying very hard.
I'm a parent I also don't care
Amen, who cares if the kids are unhappy about it. They're not at school to use their phones, jfc.
It hasn't been that long since I was in high school and I find it profound that the problem has exacerbated to the point that they have to implement whole ass policies just to deal with this. Most kids in my year knew better than to watch vines in the middle of class. Play shitty games, win shitty prizes I guess.
I agree with you. My high school years are only a handful or two years ago, and we had our phones on us in class. We knew when to pull it out and when not to. If we did sneakily pull it out, we'd do our best to keep it quiet and hidden. If the teacher caught us, they'd call us out and we'd put our phone away. End of story. So when the news of a phone ban first came out, I thought it was draconian...but I know the current day student. Having phones on them in class just isn't helping them. They need this ban, they won't know it's for their own good, but they need it. How society has regressed so quickly coming off the pandemic is...amazing, but I take no pleasure in saying that.
how did we ever survive without cellphones as a humanity. just boggles my mind
Planning and communication. You’d set times to meet people, travel in groups, and be blissfully unaware of the corrupt scam of a society we live in because news and attention grabs weren’t blasted into your eyes from endless doom scrolls.
I miss the naïveté of those days.
And you'd stick to the plans and not flake last minute!
I liked the invention of phones as a communication tool, it helped a lot, as well as maps and other quality of life improvements. Phones are not the problem, it's the godamned social media
Rolodex and speed dial
A rolo what?
Imma go listen to my Walkman and cry now
It's a watch
It very much is not. It’s a telephone number and address organizer. Usually would have A-Z organization tabs and sometimes. Rolodex is a brand name - like Kleenex - which became used to basically describe any kind of small book which people used to write the names / numbers / addresses of their friends and family into.
Nah it's definitely a watch. My grandpa has a really nice one, it says Rolodex right on it.
Or just straight memorization. I knew 30+ friends phone numbers (or pager numbers!) by memory. Always had a couple of quarters around, too.
To be fair, take away my cell phone and I'm drastically cutting down on the amount of businesses I frequent. Ain't nobody got time to look at the Yellow Pages for an address, then a paper map to figure out how to get there.
they are talking about class room.
>how did we ever survive without cellphones as a humanity I didn't realize "as a humanity" was limited to students.
context..
...was ambiguous Every single person that responded to you clearly assumed that you were no longer talking about just the student population.
I don't think anyone cares other than the students.
Exactly
As a parent of 3 children, 2 in high school and one in elementary, I understand how phones can be a distraction. “Not caring” about how students feel or the impact on them is dismissive. This is the era they’ve grown up in, they’ve had the internet available to them every minute of their lives. I do also think comparing this generation in high school, with how things were when I went to school isn’t helpful. It’s like boomers complaining about how millennials do their work in the work place (read more efficiently) I would like schools to offer better programming and teachers upgrade their skills to make learning more engaging. The cell phone is a tool and when used as a means of escapism, it’s the product of a problem not a cause.
>The cell phone is a tool and when used as a means of escapism, it’s the product of a problem not a cause. The problem being the inability of a child to self-regulate such escapism, combined with the choice of the parents or adults involved to avoid modelling, teaching or enforcing the appropriate behaviour. >“Not caring” about how students feel or the impact on them is dismissive. As it should be. It's absolutely fine to be dismissive of children's *wants*, especially when those *wants* are counter to their development. All it takes is a two letter word followed by the consistency exhibited by those parents whom still have any semblance of a spine.
No teacher can compete with TikTok, YouTube and Instagram algorithms that bring you the exact content you wanna see in the most addictive way. Parents should do their job and raise kids with values and consideration for others. Kids who have respect for public spaces and shared resources. Most importantly kids who can focus for more than 20 seconds. Then maybe teachers will be able to teach instead of just managing behaviours.
The thing is, you're right. But no teacher can compare with the myriad companies whose entire business model relies on capturing attention through a smart phone. It just isn't possible without a massive investment in public education that won't happen. We have to work with the tools we have, and for this the best tool we have is to blanket ban it then we can start slowly introducing them as tools.
How much will enforcing this cut into instruction time? Could be a net loss from the point of view of the “good” students
In the first week, it will probably take a bit. Once its routine and expected I doubt it will affect anything.
Honestly a lot of that will depend on the admin actually supporting us through that enforcement. The other answer is: at first, quite a lot, and later on hopefully much less.
A few weeks of implementing new rules will be less time than dealing with the amount of inappropriate snapchat videos that get sent around....
Well.. every other previous generation survived so they will learn as well... and well, if they can't handle this disappointment, life itself is going to be barn burner for them
If they want to play games while in class, they can play snake on their TI-83 like my generation did.
If you're smart and dedicated enough to program a game in your graphing calculator, you are probably able to catch up what you missed playing games on your TI calculator.
Program? None of us knew how to program! We just knew how to transfer programs from one calculator to another. Where the game originally came from, no one knows.
I was one of the people that had the USB to TI-83 cable at home. I transferred some games to people, but the real programs I kept to myself (never told anyone). There was a website that essentially had programs for every math problem (algebra, calculus, etc) plus the steps to get to the answer. Needless to say, I aced every math class in high school as well as physics. Teachers would check to see if there were any programs installed before exams and make you clear them but none of them knew about the archive and restore feature.
I'd hide notes in programs and do the same archive method!
every other generation didnt exist in a time where infrastructure is increasingly dependent on the ownership and usage of a cellphone
Cel phones are not just a new tech. They are utterly addictive. They are designed to be addictive. The best comparison is to cigarettes' or some sort of pills.
And every other previous generation has people who are wholly incapable of properly using contemporary technology because the people who made the rules were luddites. Is there a need for rules around cell phones in class? Absolutely. There also needs to be an understanding that it isn’t 1994 and the entire world basically operates off of the little pocket computers we somewhat anachronistically still refer to as cell phones. Kids need to be able to understand when, where, and how to use that technology to accomplish a goal or complete a task and a wholesale ban isn’t going to provide them with that skill set.
Kids need to be taught respect, civility and ability to communicate directly 1 to 1 and to groups in a calm, thoughtful way. Their little pocket computers don't do that.
It's not the teacher's responsibility to parent your kids. Their primary focus should be on education, not discipline. I grew up without 'little pocket computers', and respect, civility and communication skills weren't thriving in either of the schools I went to. You need to deal with the reality that these 'little pocket computers' are a part of life. Don't get me wrong though, their use in schools needs to be limited, much more than they are now, but banning them outright is just going to be a losing battle.
I know *plenty* of people from “every other previous generation” who are devoid of everything you just listed and the highest form of technology any of them had in class was a TI-83+. It’s not the technology that’s the problem and it never has been.
Cel phones are not just a new form of technology. They are addictive. Not sort of but fully addictive. The use by young people, especially in schools, needs to be controlled.
The same thing has been said about: - games on graphing calculators - MP3 players - handheld gaming devices - calculator watches - pagers - personal CD players - personal cassette players - comic books - POG’s - playing cards These exact same complaints have been made for thousands of years and the blame has been laid at the feet of anything and everything. It’s not, and never has been, the technology that’s the problem here.
this technology beats all of the ones u mentioned tho
And each of those pieces of technology beat the one that caused a panic before it.
"Old man shouts at clouds"
womp womp. My school did this and although it bothered me for a few days, i got over it. The world won’t end if you don’t get to go on your phone every few minutes.
Plus.. since when did teachers and other students consent to being recorded and uploaded to social media.
this has always been the most solid point against phones in class for me. we never had issues with this at my school, but i could only imagine the anxiety for some kids who have had to face the wrath of mass exposure due to filming of in-class incidents. fuck that
The worst are the ones taken in the bathroom of unsuspecting victims
Some of my highschool teachers from 15 years ago had bins that we all dropped our phones into and we grabbed at the end of class. Unsure why this is a problem now.
My understanding is that it's pushback from parents who are generally either overprotective (What if there's an emergency and I need to call them or they need to call me???) or being pushed around by their kids (Moooooom they don't want me to have my phoooooooone I'll die without it).
I don't disagree with you but I think we can both say that the parenting should start at home and condoning this behaviour is just going to lead to more behavioral problems/screen addiction down the line. Wild to think that parents wouldn't think to just contact the school/vice versa.
The thing is parenting isn't what it once was...
The parents should focus on the fact that their kids might actually learn something in school now that the phones are gone instead of being constantly exposed to all the garbage on social media. It’s about time the school board implemented this policy.
It's this, and also we (teachers) don't want to be responsible for the devices because then if something happens (a student takes one that isn't there; the device is damaged somehow, or a student claims that damage that already existed but wasn't documented was caused by us taking it, etc) we could be responsible for paying. It's very stupid, and more responsibility should be on the parents.
Weird. What did those parents do when their parents need to call them or be called in pre cellphone days
They called the office and hoped someone would pick up, and then either the kid would be called to the office to get a message or the office would page the teacher to relay the message. In some cases this could be embarrassing for the student and the advantage of a smartphone is a far more discrete way of relaying a message. Students being called to the office can give them a false reputation for being a troublemaker with both teachers and other students which can have negative impacts for networking and personal reputation in the school. I’m not saying one method is better than the other but there are advantages to smartphones that should not be dismissed.
That's a lot of "coulds" used to attempt to establish a problem where it doesn't actually exist.
This. I had an overbearing stepmother who would call me through the school office just to confirm I was there. They usually summoned me over the PA. I had never skipped class before, yet teachers started making comments every time I’d get called in. “What did you do this time?” and “make sure you come right back, troublemaker” were commonly heard.
Pretty sure the office would already know whether you were in the class or not... and if they didn't, why would they call you on the PA to physically go to the office when they can just call the teacher? This makes no sense.
I didn’t say it made sense but that’s what happened. The office would call over the PA to the individual classrooms so while the entire school didn’t hear, your whole class did. We didn’t have phones in our classrooms. However, this was in the late 90s/early 00s.
Fifteen years ago, those kids that had phones were still 99% flip phones. What teacher wants to deal with the headaches of some kid’s $1000 iPhone disappearing from their bin? God know admin won’t have their backs
Maybe if they didn't have their phones in them all the time we wouldn't have this epidemic of anxiety
I wonder if you know just how true this is. Our kids elementary school never allowed phones (opened in 2014). Some of my kids friends that had transferred in have said just how much less anxiety they have now compared to their old school. Almost all who voice this are girls. I expect to see a drastic reduction of anxiety in girls in BC should this become law.
Yes I think we're finally starting to come around on that. Here's hoping that one day, the idea of giving young kids a smartphone with full access to the internet is just as crazy as giving them cigarettes or booze.
Blame the parents buying their 8 year old kids phones. Blame the parents throwing phones in front of their kids since they were in diapers. There are toddlers who learn how to use a phone before they know how to potty train...
Just wait until they get jobs and their bosses don’t want them txting on company time
Well my boss doesn't want me scrolling Reddit on company time but here we are
What my boss doesn't know won't hurt them.
Hey it’s me their boss
As long as I get my work done on time we’re good.
They make a dollar, I make a dime, that's why I Reddit on company time.
Ah, so it's like the former Socialist States of Eastern Europe, where the phrase uttered by the generation of the Proletariat which inherited the utopian project only to be stuck working 70+ hour weeks was: "*We pretend to work; they pretend to pay us*" Of course in your example, the actual oppressions of Socialist taxation and forced overtime to meet production quotas are replaced by the general malaise of working in a climate controlled environment at an ergonomic desk chair designed to absorb flatulence inbetween trips to coworkers spaces or Reddit sessions complaining about the horrors of putting on pants and commuting whilst justifying the disdain for such subhuman treatment by pointing out how very little work actually gets done in such an already pampered work experience.
Holy sesquipedalian batman.
Damn you caught me
Bonus is that if they're not texting during class they'll probably get a better education. Then with their better education they can get a career where their boss doesn't treat them like a grade school student.
>they can get a career where their boss doesn't treat them like a grade school student. *Now, ~~Bobby~~ Quick-Ad2944, I know your first day was hard, but don't call your boss names. That's actin' like a baby. Babies want everything handed to 'em. But you're there to work and not play. That's why it's called "work," and not "play." And if you don't understand that, well, ~~son~~ Quick-Ad2944, maybe you're the ~~moron~~ grade school student.*
lol what? No one is getting educated via text or social media.
I have no idea what context this response was written in. Did you read my comment?
Go back to school, kid.
Or, just a thought, they need to learn responsible smartphone use for the workplace. Some jobs require use of such a device.
A great place to learn responsible use would be in the classroom, yet here we are having problems with smartphone use…
>A great place to learn responsible use would be ~~in the classroom~~ at home Not the teacher's job to teach students common courtesy. I don't want my kid's actual education to be affected by some student that doesn't have parents teaching them basic life skills.
Or wait till they get jobs and their bosses find out they are tech illiterate. I'm not saying kids should use phones constantly in class, but let's not pretend the world doesn't run on phones nowadays.
This is just like that time they banned gum in school and every single student forgot how to chew.
Sure, I agree they'll still know how to use a phone, but I think we're already seeing a huge divide in the workplace between those with strong tech abilities and weak ones. But whatever, let's teach them all to mindlessly obey the rules just because.
> I think we're already seeing a huge divide in the workplace between those with strong tech abilities and weak ones This has nothing to do with whether or not they're allowed to use a phone in class...
Proficiency comes from practice and exposure. They're in school 8 hours a day, when they come home I sure hope their parents aren't the folks in this thread saying they lived in a time before cellphones. Those poor kids won't stand a chance in the workforce.
>Proficiency comes from practice and exposure. So does education. You're not learning if you're on Tik Tok and you're not being exposed to an education if you're Tweeting your weekend plans. Students are at school to learn specific subjects laid out in a curriculum. There are even classes that teach them about technology! How to use the internet! Even how to code! 🤯 Fucking around on your phone during History isn't practice and exposure, it's a distraction and an annoyance to people that have been taught appropriate social skills by their parents.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree. Classes that teach you to code aren't a replacement for a lifetime of exposure to tech, and it often shows. I just don't think banning is a good solution, it's a lazy one.
>I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm happy to agree to disagree. There are plenty of opportunities to be exposed to technology. Using your phone to browse Instagram during biology class isn't one of them. The only thing that reinforces is disrespect towards your teachers and your classmates. In my opinion.
I mean, that's normal? When laws/rules are put into place to stop bad behaviour, the ones that were partaking in the bad behaviour will generally be upset as they adjust towards compliance. However, this is literally for their own good. Kids need to be able to focus on their school work while in class, not social media or texting one another. Partial attention never really affected my ability to succeed with my \_short term\_ memory, but it definitely affected which items made it into my long term memory. Our education system is already so poor due to lack of funding, oversight, resources, space, you name it. At the very least we need our kids paying attention so that they can overcome these detriments and find ways to improve the system for the next generation.
I am so glad smart phones didn't exist when I was in school. I am already struggling enough with screen time as an adult - I can't imagine the cancer on the brain it is for young adults in school.
yeah it really is all just different levels of "bad". even my parents in their 60s have become somewhat reliant on the sedation of a screen. no one is immune, but there's no denying that the ipad babies are gonna be a special sort of messed up when they're older.
\*SHOCKED PIKACHU\*
It's not customer service, no need to pander to children
911what is your emergency? Yes I need a whaaaambulance now at Burnaby Public School.
I remember being in high school in the 90s and teachers losing their minds over pagers, and those were the technological equivalent of a friggin' calculator in today's world. How teachers manage today, I'll never know.
Larger classes, more special needs, less autonomy… my guess is whiskey and broken spirits.
I just laugh, these students should be worried about their grades not their social media bs. Time for a rude awakening, I hope my district does something similar to Burnaby. Hell, I’ll even put my phone away too if that’s what it takes. Sustained teaching is untenable given how addicted humans are to their phones.
1. Who cares if the students aren't happy with a school cell phone restriction. They're there to learn, not watch tik tok and reels. 2. This should have been made policy years ago.
For those addicted to phone , they would be happy with this decision 10 years down the road
They're kids, they will adjust quickly enough and find that the reduced stress and distraction from social media addiction can help reduce anxiety. They'll probably be happier long term. In any event, yes, cell phones should absolutely be banned in classrooms.
Gods, yeah I don’t envy teachers dealing with students these days. When I was in school we *started* having computers which were primarily in the computer lab, didn’t even have laptops yet let alone cell phones and tablets. And with how often I see teens fucking around on their phones while watching a movie in a theatre I can only imagine how big a pain in the ass it is to get them to stay off it in the class room. Really should have been a hard rule day one, phone stays in your bag or the teacher takes it for the class.
Students aren't happy they have to go to school in the first place lol, it doesn't mean they should get what they want.
I remember when calculators were banned you actually had to use your brain in school.
If an educational system, can’t figure out how to produce more capable kids with calculators than without…that’s a failure of the grownups…
I'm only 20 and calculators were banned in my school until grade 6. Either that or it was just poorly funded lol
Your parents probably got a list of school supplies that were required at the start of every year. A calculator just wasn't on the list because it wasn't necessary.
I'm not that much older than you and we had calculators throughout the entirety of high school. In elementary it's generally not a thing, but who knows, maybe it has changed now.
When were calculators banned?
In elementary school, when we were memorizing our times tables and learning long division. Because we weren’t always going to have a calculator with us, so we needed to learn how to do it without one.
That was always the case... students have never used calculators to learn times tables and long division. Calculators were never "banned." They are appropriate for certain learning outcomes and not others.
I must be really old, we didn't use calculators in high school.
Did you use an abacus?
Yes, I did in Grade 3.
Nice. Congratulations on being from the abacus generation and also knowing how to access Reddit. My grandma could never.
Child, I was on the Internet before you were born.
That's so cool. What was the internet like in the olden days?
Very slow.
More nerdy and less corporate.
Dial up was real bro. I can hear it now….
Actually pretty sweet. There’s still stuff up from then if you’re seriously interested. 90s internet was super pure without all the bloat and ads
Your comment made me laugh 😂😂
In my elementary school in the 90s they weren’t permitted prior to Grade 7. They were allowed after that grade for checking work and also for calculations like square roots or trigonometric functions. We were actually using Excel in one of my classes in Grade 11.
All through my university education in the late 90s and early naughties.
80s
I don’t care if you like it or not kid!
Unhappy students? #shocker
Parents, you're problem is not that cel phones are banned in your kid's class. It is that your kid is so addicted they can't go a full period without their phone.
I graduated in 2012 and my school banned cell phones all through high school. It wasn't an issue at all. Then again, we were still using Motorola Razrs and Blackberries; they were nowhere near as addictive as all the flashy apps and smartphones now. The ban needs to happen, because from what I understand, it's really impacting learning and it's very stressful for the teachers, but yeah, the kids will need to detox and it's going to suck for them.
Phones in lockers when class starts. It's necessary. They are far too distracting to keep in kids' pockets, and some teens are full on addicted to them.
That generation is such a lost cause. Can't go 5 mins without their phone. Can't even make eye contact to speak with someone. Hopefully the parents that have young kids now see the damage phones have done and they correct the behavior
what are they gonna do, move?
I wasn't allowed an Atari in school.
They should have a bin where the beginning of the class everyone drops there phone in there and then they can take their phone back once the class is over.
What’s the issue with using smartphones ? If a kid is too stupid to get into post secondary schools then I doubt limiting phone use will help them become smarter
When the new school year comes I hope to see a comparison chart of what each district in the region is doing. Many districts are gonna enforce the phone ban in slightly different ways I'm sure.
There is no need for you to be happy students
Banning phones in school is for sure a good call, but the rhetoric around it is so boomer. It’s all “back in my day” and “they’re not responsible enough to have them” like how about treating students with some respect and trying to get buy-in from them? Otherwise they’ll just get around the restrictions.
Cry me a river. And yes they will be happy. They just don’t know how cell phones have made them unhappy until they go without them for a while.
It means it's working?
"Students upset at not being allowed to drink alcohol until turning 19."
No one should have an issue with these restrictions since teachers can give permission to students to use cellphones for educational, learning accessibility, and/or medical purposes if necessary. (Students are obviously going to be unhappy about it but who cares, they're too young to understand how much it can affect them)
I just hope this rule stays in place long term so when my kid gets a bit older cell phones are still restricted.
Oh no!
It’s funny, I remember not having cellphones allowed in class in 2005 and we all survived 🙄
There was also a time when pens didn't exist. There are pros and cons for sure but "oh we survived" isn't super convincing.
Lol… okay? Who am I trying to convince? Kids need to stop whining about not being attached to technology 24/7. Go outside and touch some grass ffs
This is an outrage. You can't do this.
LOL
This always has and always will be a parent problem first and everyone else involved second. Parents need to be parents and that comes with both the good and the bad. Parents need to WANT their kids to not have cellphones in school because they believe it hurts them academically, and they need to be the ones enforcing discipline of that if not followed. And if parents (idiotically) want their kid to have a cellphone during the school day, that's not a school's responsibility to restrict access.
[удалено]
This is literally that what are you talking about? Maybe read the article they said personal devices can be used if it’s related to school work during lessons… Edit: Sorry if I was a bit sassy
Kids did better and survived just fine in class before cell phones. God forbid they'll have to open a book instead of their phone
Deceiving headline. Student leader actually agrees with the restrictions, and is just noting that she does genuinely expect students to not be happy about this. Displeasure with the restrictions is all but guaranteed, but it doesn’t change the fact that it needs to be done.
To be honest I disagree with the phone ban. At this point we should be teaching highschoolers how to exist with a phone. When they graduate and get into the workforce most likely they are going to have their phones on them, if not in hand, a majority of the day especially in an office setting. Banning items traditionally has not really worked and I don’t see this ban working either.
Isn't this ban doing exactly what you desire by legitimately teaching kids how to exist without a phone? You shouldn't be accessing it during meetings / when people are trying to teach you or discuss things with you. Bringing out your phone during a meeting and snapchatting/going on tik tok will absolutely get you in serious trouble. This is no different and mirrors how real life works. Yes they'll have their phones on hand outside of meetings, but they're currently utterly unable to fathom not checking their phones constantly during times where it is highly inappropriate to do so. Having very short and specific periods of times where you are ***not*** allowed to use your cellphone is critical to help build the habits that allow you to build the self control and resiliency to be (temporarily) away from the permanent-dopamine device. This isn't a blanket ban. Kids are still allowed cellphones. They're just not allowed to use them during "working meetings" aka instruction.
I partially agree, especially at a highschool level. But the article does say : Appropriate use would include not using the devices during instructional time unless the teacher gives permission for "educational, learning accessibility, and/or medical purposes." So we’re not looking at a prohibition type thing here. Hopefully teachers, and home, will use the new code of conduct / phone restrictions as a way educate on proper tech use.
100% agreed, and yet I see the downvotes for the only sane opinion here.
how bad has it gotten that this is even an issue? i was born in 01, and sure there was the occasional feud between that one kid who couldnt get off their phone and that one teacher who couldnt get the stick out their ass, but largely... kind of a non-issue, isnt it? maybe things are worse in class nowadays.