6 ms·

I think they swung quickly because maybe aside from some families using them for communication in case of an emergency, the phones just became more of a liabili

I think they swung quickly because maybe aside from some families using them for communication in case of an emergency, the phones just became more of a liability to take away from a student. I haven’t been in classrooms recently, but I can imagine for high schoolers, taking away their phone == taking away their wallet.

lp0_on_fire 3y ago
I’ve never bought the “we need them for emergencies” argument. Are there _that many_ emergencies happening that the school office is unable to field calls from parents who need to reach their child right now? I don’t see the “it’s like their wallet” argument either. That the phone is expensive and it contains personal information doesn’t mean it’s not disruptive to the classroom.
- axus 3y ago
  What if the collected wallet/phone gets lost or stolen? That becomes the school's problem.
  - lp0_on_fire 3y ago
    You don’t need to collect that which should be left at home or in the locker between periods.
- ksenzee 3y ago
  You’re picturing emergencies at home. They’re picturing an emergency at school.
  - riversflow 3y ago
    Neither are common though?
    - drdeca 3y ago
      Emergencies generally aren’t, but emergency preparedness can still be worthwhile. Ok, but yes, I suppose that does suggest that, for personal emergencies, the office won’t be too overloaded with personal emergencies to deal with all of them. How often would the latency of getting to the office matter? I’m not sure.
      - simoncion 3y ago
        > How often would the latency of getting to the office matter? If the latency of getting to the office matters, the teacher is already using the intercom to tell the office to phone in paramedics, and get the school nurse in to the classroom immediately. I can't imagine any vaguely-plausible situation where calling parents (rather than the cops and/or paramedics) is the correct thing to do IMMEDIATELY and first. (SOP is for parents to tell the school about their kid's medical issues so that if they happen during the school day, their schoolday guardians will not be caught unawares... so "calling the parents to ask them what the shit is wrong with their kid" when the kid is in the middle of some serious medical issue isn't even vaguely plausible to me.)

lp0_on_fire 3y ago

I’ve never bought the “we need them for emergencies” argument. Are there _that many_ emergencies happening that the school office is unable to field calls from parents who need to reach their child right now? I don’t see the “it’s like their wallet” argument either. That the phone is expensive and it contains personal information doesn’t mean it’s not disruptive to the classroom.

axus 3y ago
What if the collected wallet/phone gets lost or stolen? That becomes the school's problem.
- lp0_on_fire 3y ago
  You don’t need to collect that which should be left at home or in the locker between periods.
ksenzee 3y ago
You’re picturing emergencies at home. They’re picturing an emergency at school.
- riversflow 3y ago
  Neither are common though?
  - drdeca 3y ago
    Emergencies generally aren’t, but emergency preparedness can still be worthwhile. Ok, but yes, I suppose that does suggest that, for personal emergencies, the office won’t be too overloaded with personal emergencies to deal with all of them. How often would the latency of getting to the office matter? I’m not sure.
    - simoncion 3y ago
      > How often would the latency of getting to the office matter? If the latency of getting to the office matters, the teacher is already using the intercom to tell the office to phone in paramedics, and get the school nurse in to the classroom immediately. I can't imagine any vaguely-plausible situation where calling parents (rather than the cops and/or paramedics) is the correct thing to do IMMEDIATELY and first. (SOP is for parents to tell the school about their kid's medical issues so that if they happen during the school day, their schoolday guardians will not be caught unawares... so "calling the parents to ask them what the shit is wrong with their kid" when the kid is in the middle of some serious medical issue isn't even vaguely plausible to me.)