In California, a high school teacher complains that students watch Netflix on their phones during class. In Maryland, a chemistry teacher says students use gambling apps to place bets during the school day.
Around the country, educators say students routinely send Snapchat messages in class, listen to music and shop online, among countless other examples of how smartphones distract from teaching and learning.
The hold that phones have on adolescents in America today is well-documented, but teachers say parents are often not aware to what extent students use them inside the classroom. And increasingly, educators and experts are speaking with one voice on the question of how to handle it: Ban phones during classes.
It used to be, but nowadays it seems that students don’t really give a shit. They’ll downright just refuse to do what a teacher/other figure of authority will ask/tell them to do.
Yeah, so problem isn’t phones. Problem is that teachers don’t have enough authority. If teachers cannot take away the phone, then just toss them out.
I feel like this “ban phones” is getting common but it does not fix the actual problem of teachers not being able to keep discipline in class.
Can’t they just be asked to leave class if they refuse to cooperate or have some other kind of sanction imposed such as a complaint to the parents or a deduction in the grade?