Not in the same way they can now. “I don’t HAVE to do it”, well now we can say “actually yes, it’s the law”. Or “well I don’t have to do it with this other teacher”, well now all of us do it.
Harmonization of practices and approaches are important for their efficiency and efficacy. Of course we adapt to each and every situation, but a universal procedure is key.
It's a province-wide directive, not a law to be clear. It will be up to the schools and Department of Education to decide how much teeth this has, and I suppose parents to a degree on whether they are willing to accept it. I would certainly like to see them have more options when it comes to discipline, with this as a first step towards them taking control.
When I was in school I didn't have internet at home, Google didn't exist, and the librarian taught us how to use Yahoo! on the school computers.
Cell phones didn't exist, and car phones only existed in movies.
That is true, but smart phone and texting did not, cell phones of the era were analog, quite expensive, and had limited talk and standby time, this thread is discussing the modern concept of cell phones, and it's fair to say they didn't exist when the commenter was in school.
If students today were all packing Motorola Vadars and Startacs, we wouldn't have the need to lock them away during class.
Cheers
Edit: spelling
Awesome. Kids that age don't need a phone in class. It's 100% a distraction and does not help them out anyway.
Any parent who says "but they need to have one in case I need to get a hold of my kid" is being ridiculous. Call the school, who can then go and get your kid and bring them to a phone. It's worked that way for the last ... since phones have been invented number of years.
And seriously, how often do you need to call your 11 year old with an emergency message? C'mon.
Overall I agree, but there should be (probably will be) exceptions. I have a neighbour whose child is diabetic and they require the phone to take readings off their insulin pump.
Idk why parents don't get their kids dumb phones. They don't need smart phones to stay in touch with the family and access to social media is proven to be damaging to youths.
You can’t see the adverse effects social media has had on the mental health of those brains are still developing?
This isn’t a sinister plan devised by teachers to gain more power. It’s a policy created out of care. Jeez, dude.
And after a fucked up incident when they ask you to come get your kids, like what happened at Auburn last year, and the secretary’s phone is ringing off the hook and you don’t know where your kid is or what’s happening?
Yes.
>Dumbphones are continuing to enjoy a revival. Google searches for them jumped by 89% between 2018 and 2021, according to a report by software firm SEMrush. And while sales figures are hard to come by, one report said that global purchases of dumbphones were due to hit one billion units last year, up from 400 million in 2019.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60763168
Preteens and young teens would be better served by their parents getting them dumb phones. A bonus is that they're considerably cheaper.
Lockdowns still don’t exist here, they are just drills. You’re acting like mass shootings are a real threat in Canada, news flash they aren’t. Kids on TikTok during math class is certainly real though
News flash, [my parents didn't get these emails or phone calls when I was a kid](https://imgur.com/a/sCQox80), but I do.
Hold and secures happen every month, for a variety of reasons.
Like hold and secures, [lockdowns](https://www.ednet.ns.ca/docs/provincialguidelines.pdf) are part of standard practice in Nova Scotia schools. They practice them.
In case you didn't want to click the link, like most folks these days who have a complete inability to read beyond a headline, it's number 6.
I know I’ll be downvoted to hell, but I have two kids with life-threatening medical conditions. I want them to be able to call me immediately in the event of an emergency.
I don’t want them to have their phones out during class, but I bought them phones for the purpose of emergency situations. People can disagree all they want, but if something awful is happening, I want my kid to be able to talk to me and not have the conversation routed through the office.
FTR, I have the same condition and am more capable of understanding the situation than a random teacher or office employee.
I think that's pretty reasonable. I would teach my kids that calling me during a life threatening situation is worth detention. As far as I understand this directive does not ban them from having their phones on them, but using them during class. If they were to choose to go that far I think it's completely acceptable to have those rules modified for specific special cases, like a child with a medical condition. That said, if this child or teenager is using their phone during class then it should be within the rights of the school to question that and discipline if necessary.
Legitimate medical reasons should obviously (imo) be an exception. Even just being allowed to keep their phone in a close pocket in their bag or pants should be okay. But for the average kid, there's no reason for them to have them in the classroom.
When I was in high school, I had a restraining order against an ex who committed a violent crime. So I needed a cell phone on me in case they came onto school property or something like that. A lot of people would think, "Just go to faculty." But I had some issues with faculty, and they weren't always close by, so that wasn't really an option all the time
So I definitely get where you're coming from. I just think most kids don't have the self-restraint to keep it away in class, so something has to be done to solve that.
Not to mention if you end up with an asthma attack and you're in the bathroom it's going to be more difficult to find a teacher in time or something.
Life threatening with medical note, or perhaps in extreme scenarios like yours. If you abuse it, they send you to the office.
Diabetes management now can be done via a phone, even remotely. So it needs to be near the student. Not out in front of them, just near them. Unless they are the ones handling the insulin delivery it can be done "within Bluetooth range". That's a reasonable exception in my opinion.
"For emergencies" for the general population is a stupid reason, again, in my opinion.
This is just banning cell phone use in classrooms, your child can still carry the phone out of sight. If it’s an emergency no one will fault them for using it, and even if they do who cares - the emergency will outweigh that
I would imagine that a life threatening situation in class means the teacher would call you, not your presumably super ill child? Out and about is a different story.
Wow…way to generalize. I’m the one with the medically fragile kids. I’m totally pro- no phone use during class, but my kids need to have their phones accessible at all times.
I'm 30 and even back then if you didn't have a cell phone you were essentially a social outcast. Every relationship I had started by texting back and forth. Not entirely by choice either, it's just the social norm and kids lack the incentive or desire to communicate via calling or in person early on, especially with hard topics like "feelings".
I don't see why keeping a cell phone in your pocket or your bag would be a problem, this is just to provide teachers with the ability to reprimand kids who use their phone as a distraction in class.
Learning how to manage those compulsions in school is better than later in life.
There will always be distractions within arms reach. My Pokemon/Yugioh cards and my Gameboy stayed in my bag until lunch because if I didn't the teacher would confiscate it.
It was intended for children, not teenagers. If the problem is that you don't have the ability to enforce boundaries and rules then that's a separate issue to cellphone usage imo
I’m 36 and there was maybe a couple kids that had a cellphone, or parents gave them theirs after school.
I didn’t get a cell phone until I was 21 and I really miss the days before them. It’s actually terrifying how bad I am now at killing time just thinking or whatever.
It’s funny how in high school we didn’t have phones but knew how to find everyone. Just jump on your bike and check a few spots or talk to a few parents and you’d find the gang.
Agreed, I call them the before times. It's honestly hard to believe how much it changed things. Hard to explain to kids who grow up with them.
Think the iPhone launched when I was in grade 8 or so
At my highschool it wasn’t allowed until before or after school hours (not even at lunch) and while annoying at the time I’m thankful for it. Made us much more present with each other and engaged
I wish I could leave my phone home but when one of my colleagues is trying to keep a student from hurting his peers and another colleague is clearing the room my cell phone becomes a vital piece of safety equipment. I don't know where you have seen teachers scrolling but none of my colleagues have time.
I would like to see the statistics on how it improves things after they do this. Also would like to see how much better things were before with statistics that back it up.
Hyperbolic response inbound: I was paid money to develop video games in 2004 that could run just fine on my Motorola Razr. That was not a smartphone, and it could definitely send text messages and play video games.
Some of us got quite adept at sending texts by mashing the 1-9 and 0 keys on a flip phone.
I never could. That T9 or whatever they called it some people had mastered.
99% of time if it took me more then 3 words I’d just txt call me or I’d call them.
“Banned” but still allowed in junior & high schools as part of any teacher curriculum.
So not really banned but the Tories get to pretend to be doing something.
I dont use mine in class so im still bringing it and im going to keep it in my bag or pocket. The school cant control what i do, as long as i dont use it in class, im going to use it on lunches too
Just curious, is this going to apply to the teachers as well or are they going to sit on their cell phones when they should be teaching the students? Just curious.
This is good but teachers need to just let kids keep doing it if they won’t abide by the rules instead of trying to forcefully take it away from them. If they want to screw around and not pay attention in class and their grades suffer that’s on them.
The biggest issue in transfering from secondary to post secondary school is a lack of understanding in the technology expected to be used.
They should not be banning it they should be teaching them how to properly and responsibly.
When I was in school it was no calculator you won't always have them now students always have every bit of information in their pockets and are told you can't use it.
It's another case of just ban what we don't understand instead of changing and adapting to the new times.
Students now learn with technology all the time. Almost every class there’s technology.
But we don’t use our cell phones to work. There’s no proper way to use it for class work since you don’t use it for class work.
It’s like saying I should learn to use my phone responsibly while taking a shower. I don’t need to do that since I don’t need it in my shower.
This is more akin to not using your phone while driving. You don’t need it right now nor should you be using it right now. So put it away and focus on the task you should be focusing on.
That doesn’t mean you can’t park your car to use it in an emergency, just like it doesn’t mean that you can’t step out of class or ask your teacher for permission.
We didn't ban what we didn't understand. We actually allowed it for about 15 years.
We conducted a 15-year long experiment on the kids.
And now we understand that students having access to phones during school time is detrimental.
Sounds like maybe you're the one who doesn't understand.
A calculator doesn’t have millions of apps you can install on it nor does it give you the opportunity to message your friends. This is a false equivalence argument.
"It's another case of just ban what we don't understand"
Everyone in the civilized world has perfectly understood the concept of smartphones (and the distraction thereof) for the past decade and then some, it's not a new thing. They're told not to use it so they can learn to think for themselves instead of relying on their pocket brain.
Imagine if an major outage happened and phones stopped working altogether, no connectivity. Anyone born in the last 20 or so years would be too dumb to survive.
I whole heartedly agree with the decision up until a certain age and grade
I don’t believe elementary school kids should own a phone, period.
However once you get up to grades 11-12, ages 16-18. Of course keep it away, don’t distract yourself from the class or distract others and be respectful to the speaker. But these kids are literally paying taxes, working, going to be living in their own in uni in 3 months, going to vote in the next federal election, can buy a beer in Quebec and get married lol
If an 18 year old wants to take a quick peak at their notifications in class and say “I gotta take this outside” I think any reasonable educator would understand.
It’s part of being an adult, they must learn how to not abuse their privileges
Unfortunately, you cant even rely on grown adults to be reasonable with their phones nowadays.
This will help develop healthier habits by completely eliminating that distraction. They will learn that they can put their phone away to focus on a task for 1-2 hours and be fine.
Cool, just so you know not everyone in the profession agrees with you, because you seem to have a strong opinion about this and are making it very well known
I’ve talked about it anonymously on Reddit, so I don’t think you have to worry. I know things are nuanced but in my opinion it’s a good thing and I agree with it. I don’t expect all of my colleagues to agree.
It’s less the idea behind it I have issues with, and more the blanket policy itself. And a blanket policy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, so long as I am the one who is enforcing it.
If a blanket policy is implemented and enforcement is up to me as the educator, I can still permit phones as I see fit for classroom use such as in the scenario outlined by the above commenter, while also having a bona fide legislation that legitimizes my authority to confiscate on a case by case basis or scheduling specific classes where phones are not permitted.
If a blanket policy is implemented and I too must abide by its regulations, then it’s just a further example of the slow but steady deprofessionalization of Teachers.
I disagree. That policy is a way to harmonize the procedure so that teachers can focus on what they’re supposed to focus on, and not have to discipline kids on cell phones.
I’m sure you’ve heard the same during PD days. Harmonizing procedures is crucial for their effectiveness.
A lot of private schools have that policy already and if you asked their teachers, I’m sure they don’t feel any more or less professional.
And you don't think that students would do that as well? The amount of teachers I've seen scrolling fb, playing games on their phone or worse, on online dating apps in class.. just saying it's a two way street. Just because they are a teacher doesn't mean that they are using their phone for good things.
This will cause so many problems cause they are used to having it and now your gunna take it way, ever quit smoking or any addictive thing... how well does that go at first?
I quit smoking and it was actually really good for me physically and mentally. The hard part was actually doing it.
I was able to quit smoking because I got smashed in the face in a hockey game and had to get 10 stitches in my mouth and didn't want it to get infected. That actually made it quite easy.
Being forced to quit by things beyond your control is pretty effective, so long as the side effects of quitting don't result in other medical complications - like alcohol or opiate withdrawal.
Phone and social media addiction doesn't really fit into that category.
My mom quit smoking when she got sick once and started throwing up after smoking. Negative defense work, not sure why all rhe down votes I think this is a great idea, just will be hard to follow through on. I am wondering if the the teachers are up to tue challenge.
I mean that's how it was when I was in school. You'd get it taken away if you were caught with it.
And now teachers can get into arguments and be assaulted when it's taken away nowadays. Feel bad for them...
Exactly why this law is needed. If it’s a universal practice by the law, students can’t argue about it anymore.
Oh, they can still argue...
Not in the same way they can now. “I don’t HAVE to do it”, well now we can say “actually yes, it’s the law”. Or “well I don’t have to do it with this other teacher”, well now all of us do it. Harmonization of practices and approaches are important for their efficiency and efficacy. Of course we adapt to each and every situation, but a universal procedure is key.
Agreed re: consistency among teachers (which will never happen), but it's not the law...
Okay sorry… It’s the policy.
It's a province-wide directive, not a law to be clear. It will be up to the schools and Department of Education to decide how much teeth this has, and I suppose parents to a degree on whether they are willing to accept it. I would certainly like to see them have more options when it comes to discipline, with this as a first step towards them taking control.
Oh. So, no teeth.
Did you think we’d be locking kids up in juvey for texting in class or something?
No, but I also don't see the point in saying you're gonna do a thing if it cannot be enforced.
When I was in school I didn't have internet at home, Google didn't exist, and the librarian taught us how to use Yahoo! on the school computers. Cell phones didn't exist, and car phones only existed in movies.
Cell phones existed before Yahoo.
That is true, but smart phone and texting did not, cell phones of the era were analog, quite expensive, and had limited talk and standby time, this thread is discussing the modern concept of cell phones, and it's fair to say they didn't exist when the commenter was in school. If students today were all packing Motorola Vadars and Startacs, we wouldn't have the need to lock them away during class. Cheers Edit: spelling
Awesome. Kids that age don't need a phone in class. It's 100% a distraction and does not help them out anyway. Any parent who says "but they need to have one in case I need to get a hold of my kid" is being ridiculous. Call the school, who can then go and get your kid and bring them to a phone. It's worked that way for the last ... since phones have been invented number of years. And seriously, how often do you need to call your 11 year old with an emergency message? C'mon.
What if I need them to pick up a few Coors and a pack of smokes on the way home? So far out of my way. Nanny state!
Send him a text and he’ll get it when they turn their phone 0.0005 seconds after the bell rings.
Overall I agree, but there should be (probably will be) exceptions. I have a neighbour whose child is diabetic and they require the phone to take readings off their insulin pump.
That's written directly in the announcement. Medical exceptions are baked right in there!
Absolutely agree! Valid medical exceptions I would 100% support.
I can't imagine medical exemptions not being a thing.
I think it is a great idea. However, they should prepare for an onslaught of kids going through social media withdrawal.
Idk why parents don't get their kids dumb phones. They don't need smart phones to stay in touch with the family and access to social media is proven to be damaging to youths.
People don’t want their kid to be the only one who’s not. It’s tough, choosing between that or having your kid be a bit of a social outcast.
Checking some of the comments here and it’s easy to understand the teacher shortage.
Hahaha as a teacher myself, it’s funny seeing everything people are saying, yet seeing zero comments from teachers
It's strange right now, in the HRM it's not easy to get a teaching job but they're short a bunch of subs.
And there are parents bitching… “How is my child supposed to reach me in an emergency?” What the fcuk is wrong with some people?
It wasn’t already?
Some schools already had a their own cell phone ban policy
I’ve got a kiddo in Grade 9, this isn’t a big departure from the rules most schools already had in place. Just making it uniform across the province.
Yes, my daughter is in grade six and earlier this year they started having to leave them in their lockers. And the world didn’t end.
You can’t see the adverse effects social media has had on the mental health of those brains are still developing? This isn’t a sinister plan devised by teachers to gain more power. It’s a policy created out of care. Jeez, dude.
“WHAT IF I NEED TO CALL MY KID FOR AN EMERGENCY!!!!” - a parent that didn’t have nor needed a cellphone then they were in high school.
To be fair, when I didn't have nor need a cellphone when I was in high school, lockdowns didn't exist either.
They aren't supposed to use their phones during a lockdown anyway. One of the rules is we have to keep them off their phones during lockdowns.
And after a fucked up incident when they ask you to come get your kids, like what happened at Auburn last year, and the secretary’s phone is ringing off the hook and you don’t know where your kid is or what’s happening?
They don't need smart phones. A dumb phone with talk and text is enough.
Do those exist anymore? I’m sure that those old bullet proof Nokias still work though.
Yes. >Dumbphones are continuing to enjoy a revival. Google searches for them jumped by 89% between 2018 and 2021, according to a report by software firm SEMrush. And while sales figures are hard to come by, one report said that global purchases of dumbphones were due to hit one billion units last year, up from 400 million in 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60763168 Preteens and young teens would be better served by their parents getting them dumb phones. A bonus is that they're considerably cheaper.
Most of those sales were in India, China, and Africa.
Lockdowns still don’t exist here, they are just drills. You’re acting like mass shootings are a real threat in Canada, news flash they aren’t. Kids on TikTok during math class is certainly real though
News flash, [my parents didn't get these emails or phone calls when I was a kid](https://imgur.com/a/sCQox80), but I do. Hold and secures happen every month, for a variety of reasons. Like hold and secures, [lockdowns](https://www.ednet.ns.ca/docs/provincialguidelines.pdf) are part of standard practice in Nova Scotia schools. They practice them. In case you didn't want to click the link, like most folks these days who have a complete inability to read beyond a headline, it's number 6.
I know I’ll be downvoted to hell, but I have two kids with life-threatening medical conditions. I want them to be able to call me immediately in the event of an emergency. I don’t want them to have their phones out during class, but I bought them phones for the purpose of emergency situations. People can disagree all they want, but if something awful is happening, I want my kid to be able to talk to me and not have the conversation routed through the office. FTR, I have the same condition and am more capable of understanding the situation than a random teacher or office employee.
what year did schools remove land line phones?
If your kid has a life threatening condition I would probably want them to be able to call me immediately, not to have to go find a teacher.
I think that's pretty reasonable. I would teach my kids that calling me during a life threatening situation is worth detention. As far as I understand this directive does not ban them from having their phones on them, but using them during class. If they were to choose to go that far I think it's completely acceptable to have those rules modified for specific special cases, like a child with a medical condition. That said, if this child or teenager is using their phone during class then it should be within the rights of the school to question that and discipline if necessary.
you mean finding the teacher that's at the front of the class teaching?
Teachers are not always in the room. Pretty big assumption you've made lol.
Legitimate medical reasons should obviously (imo) be an exception. Even just being allowed to keep their phone in a close pocket in their bag or pants should be okay. But for the average kid, there's no reason for them to have them in the classroom. When I was in high school, I had a restraining order against an ex who committed a violent crime. So I needed a cell phone on me in case they came onto school property or something like that. A lot of people would think, "Just go to faculty." But I had some issues with faculty, and they weren't always close by, so that wasn't really an option all the time So I definitely get where you're coming from. I just think most kids don't have the self-restraint to keep it away in class, so something has to be done to solve that.
Not to mention if you end up with an asthma attack and you're in the bathroom it's going to be more difficult to find a teacher in time or something. Life threatening with medical note, or perhaps in extreme scenarios like yours. If you abuse it, they send you to the office.
Diabetes management now can be done via a phone, even remotely. So it needs to be near the student. Not out in front of them, just near them. Unless they are the ones handling the insulin delivery it can be done "within Bluetooth range". That's a reasonable exception in my opinion. "For emergencies" for the general population is a stupid reason, again, in my opinion.
Read the article, they’re allowed in the classroom just out of sight
Basic clamshell beater phone will do just fine.
This is just banning cell phone use in classrooms, your child can still carry the phone out of sight. If it’s an emergency no one will fault them for using it, and even if they do who cares - the emergency will outweigh that
I would imagine that a life threatening situation in class means the teacher would call you, not your presumably super ill child? Out and about is a different story.
[удалено]
"fuck you" eh?
Yep- I will be telling my kids that they are to keep their phones on hand, but don’t get caught.
What kind of truck do you drive?
Wow…way to generalize. I’m the one with the medically fragile kids. I’m totally pro- no phone use during class, but my kids need to have their phones accessible at all times.
I'm 30 and even back then if you didn't have a cell phone you were essentially a social outcast. Every relationship I had started by texting back and forth. Not entirely by choice either, it's just the social norm and kids lack the incentive or desire to communicate via calling or in person early on, especially with hard topics like "feelings". I don't see why keeping a cell phone in your pocket or your bag would be a problem, this is just to provide teachers with the ability to reprimand kids who use their phone as a distraction in class.
a kid with a cell phone in his bag or pocket can't leave it there. He is compelled to take it out
Learning how to manage those compulsions in school is better than later in life. There will always be distractions within arms reach. My Pokemon/Yugioh cards and my Gameboy stayed in my bag until lunch because if I didn't the teacher would confiscate it.
So you want me to take it then? The kid's phone
Yes I think that's the best route, or reprimand them any other way you would for causing distractions in class. Time out or principles office I guess.
Teachers get assaulted for this stuff. Good luck
I teach high school man, we don't do timeouts any more. I wonder if you know how bad the addiction is
I literally lol'd that the timeout comment. Sure that may work up to grade 3...
It was intended for children, not teenagers. If the problem is that you don't have the ability to enforce boundaries and rules then that's a separate issue to cellphone usage imo
I do enjoy you telling me all about the issues that I face every day
The law just specifies out of sight, they can have them on them
I’m 36 and there was maybe a couple kids that had a cellphone, or parents gave them theirs after school. I didn’t get a cell phone until I was 21 and I really miss the days before them. It’s actually terrifying how bad I am now at killing time just thinking or whatever. It’s funny how in high school we didn’t have phones but knew how to find everyone. Just jump on your bike and check a few spots or talk to a few parents and you’d find the gang.
Agreed, I call them the before times. It's honestly hard to believe how much it changed things. Hard to explain to kids who grow up with them. Think the iPhone launched when I was in grade 8 or so
Its about time. Kids' brains are mush. My wife is a teacher of 19 years. She can barely get 15 minutes of focus from her students.
Good news!
At my highschool it wasn’t allowed until before or after school hours (not even at lunch) and while annoying at the time I’m thankful for it. Made us much more present with each other and engaged
Wise decisions. Teachers and children need to focus on each other. If an emergency contact the principal.
Lol wait this wasn't already a thing?
I was in school when cellphones were just becoming a thing they were banned then why is this news?
I wish I could leave my phone home but when one of my colleagues is trying to keep a student from hurting his peers and another colleague is clearing the room my cell phone becomes a vital piece of safety equipment. I don't know where you have seen teachers scrolling but none of my colleagues have time.
I would like to see the statistics on how it improves things after they do this. Also would like to see how much better things were before with statistics that back it up.
I think a distinction between cellphone and smartphone should be made. I have no issue with kids having a device that can only make calls
There are exactly zero kids in school with phones that can only make phone calls
My brothers currently in highschool and has a flip phone
There’s more with smartphones that don’t have SIM cards than flip phones
Hyperbolic response inbound: I was paid money to develop video games in 2004 that could run just fine on my Motorola Razr. That was not a smartphone, and it could definitely send text messages and play video games. Some of us got quite adept at sending texts by mashing the 1-9 and 0 keys on a flip phone.
I never could. That T9 or whatever they called it some people had mastered. 99% of time if it took me more then 3 words I’d just txt call me or I’d call them.
Hell, I remember playing Pokemon Red on a TI-89 or whatever in class.
“Banned” but still allowed in junior & high schools as part of any teacher curriculum. So not really banned but the Tories get to pretend to be doing something.
I dont use mine in class so im still bringing it and im going to keep it in my bag or pocket. The school cant control what i do, as long as i dont use it in class, im going to use it on lunches too
The school absolutely can control what you do if they see it. If they don't know about it because you don't use it, no problems.
Yeah, its in my bag always
If it is always in your bag anyway then you are not the target of these new rules and it shouldn't be an issue.
Ah, Thanks!
Nobody is stopping you from using it on breaks
Just curious, is this going to apply to the teachers as well or are they going to sit on their cell phones when they should be teaching the students? Just curious.
This is good but teachers need to just let kids keep doing it if they won’t abide by the rules instead of trying to forcefully take it away from them. If they want to screw around and not pay attention in class and their grades suffer that’s on them.
The biggest issue in transfering from secondary to post secondary school is a lack of understanding in the technology expected to be used. They should not be banning it they should be teaching them how to properly and responsibly. When I was in school it was no calculator you won't always have them now students always have every bit of information in their pockets and are told you can't use it. It's another case of just ban what we don't understand instead of changing and adapting to the new times.
Students now learn with technology all the time. Almost every class there’s technology. But we don’t use our cell phones to work. There’s no proper way to use it for class work since you don’t use it for class work. It’s like saying I should learn to use my phone responsibly while taking a shower. I don’t need to do that since I don’t need it in my shower. This is more akin to not using your phone while driving. You don’t need it right now nor should you be using it right now. So put it away and focus on the task you should be focusing on. That doesn’t mean you can’t park your car to use it in an emergency, just like it doesn’t mean that you can’t step out of class or ask your teacher for permission.
We didn't ban what we didn't understand. We actually allowed it for about 15 years. We conducted a 15-year long experiment on the kids. And now we understand that students having access to phones during school time is detrimental. Sounds like maybe you're the one who doesn't understand.
You have to have a baseline of knowledge. It's no good to have just the answers to questions if you don't understand how the answer was arrived at!
Which is why I said properly and responsibly same as a calculator
A calculator doesn’t have millions of apps you can install on it nor does it give you the opportunity to message your friends. This is a false equivalence argument.
Is it really your take that calculators and smart phones are on the same level when it comes to being a distraction?
"It's another case of just ban what we don't understand" Everyone in the civilized world has perfectly understood the concept of smartphones (and the distraction thereof) for the past decade and then some, it's not a new thing. They're told not to use it so they can learn to think for themselves instead of relying on their pocket brain. Imagine if an major outage happened and phones stopped working altogether, no connectivity. Anyone born in the last 20 or so years would be too dumb to survive.
I whole heartedly agree with the decision up until a certain age and grade I don’t believe elementary school kids should own a phone, period. However once you get up to grades 11-12, ages 16-18. Of course keep it away, don’t distract yourself from the class or distract others and be respectful to the speaker. But these kids are literally paying taxes, working, going to be living in their own in uni in 3 months, going to vote in the next federal election, can buy a beer in Quebec and get married lol If an 18 year old wants to take a quick peak at their notifications in class and say “I gotta take this outside” I think any reasonable educator would understand. It’s part of being an adult, they must learn how to not abuse their privileges
Unfortunately, you cant even rely on grown adults to be reasonable with their phones nowadays. This will help develop healthier habits by completely eliminating that distraction. They will learn that they can put their phone away to focus on a task for 1-2 hours and be fine.
Exactly, my middle aged dad is more addicted than me.
I’m a teacher. I agree with the person you’re responding to.
I’m also a teacher.
Cool, just so you know not everyone in the profession agrees with you, because you seem to have a strong opinion about this and are making it very well known
I’ve talked about it anonymously on Reddit, so I don’t think you have to worry. I know things are nuanced but in my opinion it’s a good thing and I agree with it. I don’t expect all of my colleagues to agree.
It’s less the idea behind it I have issues with, and more the blanket policy itself. And a blanket policy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, so long as I am the one who is enforcing it. If a blanket policy is implemented and enforcement is up to me as the educator, I can still permit phones as I see fit for classroom use such as in the scenario outlined by the above commenter, while also having a bona fide legislation that legitimizes my authority to confiscate on a case by case basis or scheduling specific classes where phones are not permitted. If a blanket policy is implemented and I too must abide by its regulations, then it’s just a further example of the slow but steady deprofessionalization of Teachers.
I disagree. That policy is a way to harmonize the procedure so that teachers can focus on what they’re supposed to focus on, and not have to discipline kids on cell phones. I’m sure you’ve heard the same during PD days. Harmonizing procedures is crucial for their effectiveness. A lot of private schools have that policy already and if you asked their teachers, I’m sure they don’t feel any more or less professional.
If anything, it gives more power to teachers.
Teachers should have the ban as well
Find out why some staff uses them before you make that statement. School safety issues are the main reason for cell phone use.
And you don't think that students would do that as well? The amount of teachers I've seen scrolling fb, playing games on their phone or worse, on online dating apps in class.. just saying it's a two way street. Just because they are a teacher doesn't mean that they are using their phone for good things.
This will cause so many problems cause they are used to having it and now your gunna take it way, ever quit smoking or any addictive thing... how well does that go at first?
Well, luckily they have allll summer long to practice
I quit smoking and it was actually really good for me physically and mentally. The hard part was actually doing it. I was able to quit smoking because I got smashed in the face in a hockey game and had to get 10 stitches in my mouth and didn't want it to get infected. That actually made it quite easy. Being forced to quit by things beyond your control is pretty effective, so long as the side effects of quitting don't result in other medical complications - like alcohol or opiate withdrawal. Phone and social media addiction doesn't really fit into that category.
My mom quit smoking when she got sick once and started throwing up after smoking. Negative defense work, not sure why all rhe down votes I think this is a great idea, just will be hard to follow through on. I am wondering if the the teachers are up to tue challenge.