Like everything over time, Educational methods have also evolved. There are instances where children are taught in school through personalized tablets rather than just notebooks. Where a pencil box used to be the most extraordinary item in a child’s bag, it is now a thing of the past. What fascinates these children is technology? This gives rise to the much-inquired query; should Phones Be Prohibited to School Going Students?
It is quite understandable when younger children are not given charge of their cell phones. That is until parents believe they may be of a mature age. But what about mature enough children bringing the said phones to school? We must explore this,
A Major Distraction (Infinite Scrolling):
Once a student is permitted to bring a phone to school, they will find themselves going through it most of the day. School can often be a time for students to socialize, learn, explore, and even gain an interest in sports. The last part is not for every student since some children/teenagers spend time in a library, classroom, or just roaming about. How do you stop someone from using the phone during class, when you know they will use it under the table when scolded for it?
Spending time scrolling through social media apps takes away the effort one makes to stay in school. This includes learning something educational or picking up new passions. Imagine if there was a student with a flair for drama and acting, but when rehearsals were taking place, they played mobile games on a LAN network with friends. Now, the child is not to blame here since games do attract. However, they missed an opportunity without knowing they did. This is just one example. Imagine someone missing out on learning how the principle of physics and chemistry work because the video on Instagram seemed funny to watch mid-class.
Staying within the technological loop (A Benefit):
As big of a distraction a phone can be, it can be considered cruel to keep students entirely away from it. What if the student uses their phone in school, but they are merely expanding upon what their teacher taught? What if all they are doing is searching it on Google or YouTube? Of course, a counter-argument proposes that this is precisely why a library or a computer lab exists, but there are times when those are either closed or inaccessible.
After all, the students get their doses of phone usage at home, so why use it in school? However, What if they need to call and inform their parents of something? Communication is a huge factor in favor of the students, but this only applies to higher grade students. Primary and Secondary students have no use for a phone other than playing games.
So what to do?
What one can do, as in-charge of a school, is permit students to bring phones to school, but those who are in the ninth grade or above. This applies to any education system. The benchmark should be set at ninth grade or above. They may use it during break time or the 5-10 minutes between classes. However, when the teacher is speaking and teaching, the phones should be either on the desk or in the bag. According to the writer of this article, it does not use the phone during class. The student is missing out on precious minutes of education that the hard-working parents are paying for.
So, summing up, younger school-going children don’t have a critical use of a phone and need not bring one to school, but it can be allowed for above ninth grade. The institute need not provide them with a Wi-Fi connection as that will only increase their use.
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