That's a strong statement, and not reflective of what I've seen and heard. My mom teaches H.S. Spanish, and has for 20 years or so, in a pretty affluent area, and almost nothing in your statement seems to be true.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

In my Classroom phones are one of the largest sources of trouble and conflict we have. I have had kids start a fight texting across the room and then go to blows. We now have the I see it I take it rule.....But the IEP kids seem to love to let us know that they can have earbuds.

Tik-toc (spelling) and other apps are tearing through our school at an alarming rate. I am all for phone go into a small locker when you walk in for the morning and then retrieved at the end of the day. The bullying is instant and without recourse. No longer do you have to square up to be an asshole....3 suicides since sept. It really breaks my heart the this has to happen at school during class.

But a law.........Wow

Oh yes, your little window of the world is skewed, but it must be the right one. Pretty sure if you look at the demographics, Democratic supporters are lower on the economic side then Republican, then again I could be wrong.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Threats of a lawsuit, even getting an attorney to write a letter are a long way from actually getting in court and winning. Unfortunately in today's society it just seems easier for people to use that excuse and give in to the bully.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Cause its easier to just throw up the hands and not do anything, than fight for what's right.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

No he is talking about teachers / administrators and others who feel someone threatening a lawsuit means you should just give in and do what they want.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Glad you put "cant afford" in quotes.. there are ALOT of parents who truly can't afford the $15 calculator and there kids don't have a smart phone.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

https://www.investors.com/...utstrip-republicans/

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Well I'll challenge you and say on that you failed as a teacher,

If you look at the technology and processing capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox, software available etc I am sure you can make a very detailed high level analysis backed up by very credible sources

I wonder how you would have graded this if turned in..(ok it probably didn't meet all the rubrics because he was not given them but I think this makes the point. https://www.wepc.com/tips/ps4-vs-xbox-one/

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Yup seems I am wrong again. https://www.washingtonpost.com/...ncome/?noredirect=on

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

$15 is a significant expense for some parents (and for the students who are "homeless" and couch surfing from one friend's house to the next).

However, I don't have a single student who doesn't have a cell phone. At one time, I thought it would be unfair to ask students to do something with Kahoot or Google Classroom, but that's not a problem. I don't know who paid for it/how they came up with the money (not to mention the monthly fee), but every student has a cell phone.

But ask them to take out their calculator to determine the pH of 0.020 M HCl, and it's a different story.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

What grade do you teach? Most of my co-workers with younger kids seem to start talking about cell phones for their kids around the teen to pre-teen age so lets say 10 - 14. Which would put them in the 5th to 9th grade. Yeah by high school pretty sure most kids have a phone now. But as I said at least at our H.S the red/yellow/green zone seems to work pretty well.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

I teach in Japan at an international school and I can tell you that cell phone addiction is out of control. Not just among students, but also the general public. Basically, everyone over the age of 11 or 12 has a smartphone, and if you don't, you're out of the loop. Its pretty much been that way since cell phones became affordable, but now its social media and games that has everyone hooked. Even I know I spend too much time on it. The scary thing is that it will be so much worse in 5-10 years because gaming and other software developers will figure out how to hook us in even more.

This is how it starts. I'm talking about AI. I'm not saying that that AI is already here, but the machine is. Sounds paranoid, but you reading this message, wanting to respond, say your thing is also a huge part of it. I'm talking about dopamine. You get a hit of it when someone responds to your message, negative or positive. If its negative, you get to respond and show how intelligent you are. Positive, well, maybe you make a Slowtwitch friend or ally you can gang up on progressives or conservatives with.

I teach high school, juniors and seniors, chemistry and physics.

Our school policy. Students can use their phones before and after school and during their lunch break. Otherwise, they are not to be used.

Part of the problem (as mentioned by others here) is the inconsistent enforcement of the existing policy. Some teachers have given up or they're simply afraid of confrontation, so students blatantly text, surf the internet, play games, listen to music (through their earbuds), etc, during class. Students (and parents) think I'm the bad guy when I take their phones if they're using them during class.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Ok so maybe your school needs to go to a red/yellow/green zones.
How is it a problem if the kid is sitting there texting/surfing/ playing a game, or listening to music. If he is passing the class and not disturbing the people around him, I don't see an issue with it. if he is failing well you can tell his folks its probably cause he is on his phone during class.

Oh and whats the problem with being the bad guy and taking phones if they are violating the policy. I view teachers like parents, we are not there to be their friends.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

A couple of issues.

1. Part of learning to be an adult is learning to be present (i.e. paying attention) in meetings, classes, etc, whether you think you need to or not.

2. While some students might be able to play games and text during class and still learn and pass, many can not, and it makes it more difficult for teachers and administration to maintain a standard if some students are allowed and others aren't.

3. It shows little or no respect for the time and effort put forth by the teacher to be sitting in the room texting, playing games, writing notes, reading a book, or doing really anything other than paying attention.

4. Most classes require some sort of participation both the reinforce learning, and to assist the teacher in identifying how students are absorbing the material.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

I don't have a problem being the bad guy. But you do create issues when you have a law or policy that's not universally applied and enforced.

I wouldn't have students playing on their cell phones in my class while I've got other students trying to pick up the material that's being covered. It is a distraction, and I don't have students passing class who are not keeping up with the material on a day by day basis. If the students feel like they don't need to be here, they can go to the gym and a day care provider can watch them.

For the teachers who don't need their students to pay attention so they let them play on their cell phones during class, they need to up their game. Make their class challenging. There's no need to waste a student's time.

For the prodigies who are bored in class, they need to sign up for some challenging classes. (AP anything, third year foreign language, or get outside their comfort zone and take a welding/machine lathe class.)

And everyone (teachers, students, parents) needs to learn how to get along without a cell phone for 45 minutes.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.