"OSA’s cell phone policy has never been very forceful or effective. This year, however, the school is enforcing a new, stricter, policy for phones. Kids and teachers alike have very strong opinions on it, and it’s become a pretty controversial topic." -- Maia Cavagnolo 7th grade
OSA’s cell phone policy has never been very forceful or effective. This year, however, the school is enforcing a new, stricter, policy for phones. Kids and teachers alike have very strong opinions on it, and it’s become a pretty controversial topic.
“I think it’s too harsh and doesn’t help,” says Poppy Zaiger, an eighth grader in Literary Arts. She says that she preferred the old policy better. Hayley Schoeneman, a seventh grade Visual Artist, says that “It’s hard for teachers to keep track of all the phones they’ve taken.” Zaiger and Schoeneman both agree that something about the new policy has to change for it to work properly.
Even though a lot of OSA students don’t like it, seventh grade English and eighth grade social sciences teacher Christopher Olsen thinks that the new policy is promising. “It’s helping them stay off their phones. I’ve had less students on their phones all the time.” Which is good, since phones can be very problematic in classrooms. Teachers complain that they’re the biggest source of student distraction in class.
“Kids have always been masters at not paying attention when bored, from passing notes to drawing and even sleeping. Cell phones make it a thousand times easier to zone out instead of listening to the lesson,” says The Bark Team, a parent control company that monitors the usage of kid’s phones. “Even the mere presence of the cell phone can be distracting, even when the sound is turned off or if the phone is powered off altogether,” adds Charise Rohm Nulsen, who wrote the article Cell phones at School: Should they Be Allowed?
“I have seen people on their phones more times than I could count. I think that the teachers can’t spot when a student is hiding their phone,” Zaiger argues, and Schoeneman has a similar opinion. “I don’t think the policy [helps students focus], I believe that not using your phone during class will help students focus.” Schoeneman also says that “The first warning [should] actually happen.”
Carolane Bamford-Beattie from Kidslox adds, “Like it or not, cell phones are a fundamental part of modern teen life. Research estimates that up to 95% of U.S teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% say they are ‘almost constantly’ on the internet.” And that can be true. At OSA, you can see lots of kids sneaking screen time. But are other schools any different?
“We’re not allowed to have [phones] out at all,” says Zofia Wang, a seventh grader at Claremont Middle School. “If a teacher sees us with a cell phone, then they will take it away.” When Wang was asked if she thinks it’s a good thing that the policy was so strict, she said, “Sort of. It’s good that they have the cell phone for in class, but I kind of wish that there was no cell phone policy during lunch.” But there are benefits to the strict rules. “There’s no pictures taken of anyone [who doesn’t] want their picture taken,” she concludes.
But there’s also the fact that phones can contact people in an emergency. They can help you find where you’re going. Nulsen states that “Families are living through unprecedented times, regardless of whether they attend private or public schools. This generation of children has grown up with mass shootings, and specifically school shootings, being part of the news headlines that they see every year of their lives. We [have lived] through a pandemic where school districts and families have heightened anxiety and true health and safety concerns on a regular basis. Knowing that you can reach loved ones in a heartbeat thanks to mobile phones during school hours can feel more important than ever in the current climate.”
Nulsen makes a fine point, one that Olsen agrees with. “I don’t like taking phones from students. I think it causes them a lot of anxiety.”
Olsen has a unique way of dealing with phones, one that, in his opinion, is less severe but equally effective. “By wrapping the phone up, it makes it so they can’t use it for the rest of the period, or the rest of the day. But it also makes it so that they still have possession of their phones.” He gift wraps phones he sees out and that hands them back to a student. Olsen says that he always tells the student, if they bring the phone with the same, un-ripped gift wrapping, he won’t tell the kid’s parents that they were on their phone.
In the end, everybody has opposing Ideas. “I don’t think the policy [helps],” Schoeneman complains. “It doesn’t help,” Zaiger confirms. But Olsen says he has “had less students on their phones.” But Olsen does admit that students might not like the phone policy, “Nobody likes having their phones taken away,” he says, but he still stays firmly on the ground of it-helps-not-hurts. If you’re a student on your phone out there, remember this article, and remember the impact it has on you and those around you.
“I think it’s too harsh and doesn’t help,” says Poppy Zaiger, an eighth grader in Literary Arts. She says that she preferred the old policy better. Hayley Schoeneman, a seventh grade Visual Artist, says that “It’s hard for teachers to keep track of all the phones they’ve taken.” Zaiger and Schoeneman both agree that something about the new policy has to change for it to work properly.
Even though a lot of OSA students don’t like it, seventh grade English and eighth grade social sciences teacher Christopher Olsen thinks that the new policy is promising. “It’s helping them stay off their phones. I’ve had less students on their phones all the time.” Which is good, since phones can be very problematic in classrooms. Teachers complain that they’re the biggest source of student distraction in class.
“Kids have always been masters at not paying attention when bored, from passing notes to drawing and even sleeping. Cell phones make it a thousand times easier to zone out instead of listening to the lesson,” says The Bark Team, a parent control company that monitors the usage of kid’s phones. “Even the mere presence of the cell phone can be distracting, even when the sound is turned off or if the phone is powered off altogether,” adds Charise Rohm Nulsen, who wrote the article Cell phones at School: Should they Be Allowed?
“I have seen people on their phones more times than I could count. I think that the teachers can’t spot when a student is hiding their phone,” Zaiger argues, and Schoeneman has a similar opinion. “I don’t think the policy [helps students focus], I believe that not using your phone during class will help students focus.” Schoeneman also says that “The first warning [should] actually happen.”
Carolane Bamford-Beattie from Kidslox adds, “Like it or not, cell phones are a fundamental part of modern teen life. Research estimates that up to 95% of U.S teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% say they are ‘almost constantly’ on the internet.” And that can be true. At OSA, you can see lots of kids sneaking screen time. But are other schools any different?
“We’re not allowed to have [phones] out at all,” says Zofia Wang, a seventh grader at Claremont Middle School. “If a teacher sees us with a cell phone, then they will take it away.” When Wang was asked if she thinks it’s a good thing that the policy was so strict, she said, “Sort of. It’s good that they have the cell phone for in class, but I kind of wish that there was no cell phone policy during lunch.” But there are benefits to the strict rules. “There’s no pictures taken of anyone [who doesn’t] want their picture taken,” she concludes.
But there’s also the fact that phones can contact people in an emergency. They can help you find where you’re going. Nulsen states that “Families are living through unprecedented times, regardless of whether they attend private or public schools. This generation of children has grown up with mass shootings, and specifically school shootings, being part of the news headlines that they see every year of their lives. We [have lived] through a pandemic where school districts and families have heightened anxiety and true health and safety concerns on a regular basis. Knowing that you can reach loved ones in a heartbeat thanks to mobile phones during school hours can feel more important than ever in the current climate.”
Nulsen makes a fine point, one that Olsen agrees with. “I don’t like taking phones from students. I think it causes them a lot of anxiety.”
Olsen has a unique way of dealing with phones, one that, in his opinion, is less severe but equally effective. “By wrapping the phone up, it makes it so they can’t use it for the rest of the period, or the rest of the day. But it also makes it so that they still have possession of their phones.” He gift wraps phones he sees out and that hands them back to a student. Olsen says that he always tells the student, if they bring the phone with the same, un-ripped gift wrapping, he won’t tell the kid’s parents that they were on their phone.
In the end, everybody has opposing Ideas. “I don’t think the policy [helps],” Schoeneman complains. “It doesn’t help,” Zaiger confirms. But Olsen says he has “had less students on their phones.” But Olsen does admit that students might not like the phone policy, “Nobody likes having their phones taken away,” he says, but he still stays firmly on the ground of it-helps-not-hurts. If you’re a student on your phone out there, remember this article, and remember the impact it has on you and those around you.
