The best thing we could likely do for our kids is have a school district-wide ban on cell phones in classrooms.
Currently, in School District #48, there isn’t a district-wide policy.
“Each school has developed a student code of conduct, which outlines their cell phone use expectations. Any new initiatives around cell phone use are developed at the school level,” explained spokesperson Jennifer Morris.
If you have a teen—or even a cell phone, yourself—you know how much harder it is to concentrate on other tasks with the likes of TikTok or a text from a beloved enticing you.
A B.C. high school teacher told The Squamish Chief, anecdotally, that taking phones away during class has meant that when a test or assignment is complete, students chat to each other. While they likely think they are getting away with something, for the teacher, it has been a joy to see them interacting where, previously, they had pulled out their phones instead.
“We don’t multitask very well and being distracted by something on your phone, I mean, we don’t let people drive when they’re on their phone, so how are they going to participate in a classroom activity?” Bonnie Leadbeater, a UVic psychology professor emeritus, told Global News in September when discussing a current ban on cellphones at Langford’s Belmont Secondary.
Other places, like Chatelech Secondary on the Sunshine Coast have banned them. Ontario has province-wide restrictions on cell phones in schools.
Starting at the beginning of this month, public high school students in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, had to lock their phones up for the day. This ban adds to the one already in place there for primary students there, including — gasp—at recess and lunch.
There are a number of ways for students to abide by the rules, such as keeping their phones in their bag, or in lockers. Individual NSW schools will determine how they enforce the ban, which makes sense.
(A local ban could include exceptions that warrant students needing their phones, of course.)
“It will help to provide more productive classrooms for students and teachers, reducing opportunities for distraction and cyberbullying,” said NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car in a news release.
Taking phones away may also have the side benefit of reducing students’ fears of being secretly recorded in class, too, something the B.C. high school teacher we spoke to noted as well.
A district-wide ban would take pressure of individual schools and keep expectations consistent.
In a Squamish Chief online poll we have up right now, so far, most seem to agree. When asked if cell phones should be banned in Sea to Sky schools, more than 62% have said, “Yes, cell phones are a huge distraction from both classroom learning and other social activities at school.”
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