A recent Los Angeles Times’ article
reveals that teachers across America must compete with students’ phones
for attention. Matt Miles, a high school teacher from Fairfax County,
Virginia, says the problem is getting worse: “Whereas 5 years ago, I
could quietly ask the one rebellious student to put his or her phone
away with no real interruption to class, doing that today would require
multiple conversations with a majority of my class.”
The push for students to use phones while at school, and even during
class, comes from this generation of preteens and teens who — as
illustrated by the recent documentary Screenagers — struggle to stop playing with their phones. Adding fuel to the fire are tech pundits who claim
that smartphones provide learning opportunities for children. Parents,
too, may want to communicate by phone with their kids throughout the
school day.
But new
research is questioning the wisdom of allowing phones in school, as
studies reveal this practice is putting students’ learning and safety at
risk...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-freed/why-phones-dont-belong-in-school_b_9666730.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-freed/why-phones-dont-belong-in-school_b_9666730.html
It is a good idea for kids to have phones so they can readily call 911 if and when it's necessary.
ReplyDeleteThat's not what they are being used for.
DeleteGranted, and the real winners here are the service providers feeding their greed.
DeleteIllusion of safety and distracted learning are the benefits that students receive.
Perhaps, they can wire the schools with classroom panic buttons as a happy medium.