Manchester, Conn. Wondered if they had that issue in, say, New Canaan.
Posted on 05/01/2024 9:39:06 AM PDT by JSM_Liberty
When Raymond Dolphin became assistant principal of a middle school in Connecticut two years ago, it was clear to him that the kids were not all right.
The problem was cellphones. Students were using the devices in class, despite a rule against it. Social media was exacerbating nearly every conflict among students. When Dolphin walked the hallways or surveyed the cafeteria, he invariably saw heads bent over screens.
So in December, Dolphin did something unusual: He banned them.
The experiment at Illing Middle School sparked objections from students and some parents, but it has already generated profound and unexpected results.
Dolphin likened prohibiting cellphones to curbing consumption of sugary foods. “In a matter of months, you start feeling better,” he said.
What unfolded at the school reflects a broader struggle underway in education as some administrators turn to increasingly drastic measures to limit the reach of a technology that is both ubiquitous and endlessly distracting.
Scores of schools across the country — from California to Indiana to Pennsylvania — have taken similar steps to remove cellphones altogether rather than rely on rules around their use. ... Teachers who were initially skeptical that the pouches would work say they’ve been transformative. Dan Connolly, an eighth-grade science teacher, said he used to repeat the same reminder at the start of each period, six times a day: Put away your cellphones and take out your headphones. ... Some educators turned to the pouches out of desperation. When students returned to school full time after learning remotely during the pandemic, their relationship to their phones had changed dramatically, said Carol Kruser, who was then principal at Chicopee High School in Massachusetts.
...
“I really wasn’t sure if it was going to be career suicide,” said Kruser,.... “I just thought it was that important.”
...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Manchester, Conn. Wondered if they had that issue in, say, New Canaan.
One way to keep racial attacks on whites, out of control teachers, and gang fight from showing on social media.
I think every classroom should have a soundproof box in which students put their phones on the way in. Let them have them back between classes. If they are caught with a phone during class, automatic suspension.
Yes, true.
Good idea.
I’ve often thought that parents and schools should only allow dumbphones, like the old flip phones with no internet or camera. Texting had to be done with the dial pad.
Look at the dramatic jump in mental health problems with the introduction of the iPhone. There were some other events that had bad effect, but that one is off the charts.
I think they should not be allowed at all during school hours. You put them in on the way in — staff as well as students - and pick them up on the way out.
In between breaks, students should learn to interact with each other in the analog world
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