Have you ever sat beside someone in class who was drumming their pencil on the surface of their desk? Or maybe it was someone clicking a ballpoint pen on and off, driving you crazy. If you’re really unlucky, maybe you’ve sat next to someone who was loudly turning the pages of a textbook while you were trying to concentrate.
If any of these things sound familiar, you’re a completely normal student. Frankly, everyone who has ever been inside a school has probably encountered at least one of these scenarios because, unfortunately, schools are filled with distractions.
Naturally, given that schools are supposed to be educational environments, educators are constantly seeking ways to minimize such distractions. Recently, the attempt to eliminate distractions has made its way into court, leading to new legislation in Ohio that bans phones in schools throughout the entire school day. However, this strategy of minimizing distractions is not the right approach.
Contact between students and their guardians is vital in schools—not only for discussing transportation, sporting events and clubs, but also for emergencies and other extenuating circumstances.
A survey conducted by the National Parents Union found that 78% of parents would like their child to have a phone in school to contact them in the event of an emergency. Parents elaborated that they believe schools alone communicate ineffectively in such situations.
In reference to a recent school shooting, Amy Klinger, a program director for the Educator’s School Safety Network, stated, “Every parent that gets a text that says, ‘I’m OK,’ does not have to go through the trauma that people had to go through on Wednesday.” It’s reasonable to assume that parents in that situation would prefer immediate reassurance from their child rather than a copy-and-pasted email from the school district informing parents that their child may or may not be missing, injured or worse.
Additionally, phones can be a useful educational resource. No past generation has ever had such an abundance of information available at the mere click of a button. Schools across the nation will flourish once legislators and educators alike facilitate the use of today’s technology—not outlaw it.
According to Ray Ravaglia’s article “Cell Phones Are an Educational Opportunity, Not a Problem,” phones can help students work smarter, not harder. Phones can assist with making difficult notation more efficient. Using their cellphone cameras, students can import extensive expressions into AI apps like Google Gemini, Sizzle and Numerade. These can be extremely helpful learning tools for more complex concepts.
Many critics highlight that cell phone usage in schools can lead to distractions when abused. And while in a perfect world all classrooms would be completely distraction-free zones used exclusively for learning, the fact of the matter is that distractions exist everywhere in classrooms. However, passing legislation to ban classroom distractions is not—and never has been—an acceptable solution.
As explained by Ravaglia, “Students should not misuse phones during class, not because it is illegal, but because it is not good for their learning and violates classroom norms.”
Finally, whether we like it or not, phone technology is the way of the future. The legislators who passed the bill enforcing the ban were not qualified to make such legislation, given that they went to school before cell phones were around.
The legislation was passed based on what they believe would have worked best for their education. However, times are changing, and the future of education is evolving with us. It is important for future generations to know how to use these modern tools for the better.
According to “Why Mobile Phones Are a Powerful Learning Tool,” an article published by BSD Education, “We should not ban mobile phones in schools because it’s important to educate children to live well in the era in which they are growing up… A good education for students today is knowing how to use technology to learn, communicate, and work with ideas.”
Schools should prepare students for their future. Phones will remain part of the equation for generations to come. So, as a society, we must evolve—not necessarily because it’s the easiest option right now, but because today’s youth should learn how to use technology wisely in order to create a better future. Therefore, cell phones must remain legal in schools.
