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As an American, I'm at a loss trying to figure out when phones started being allowed in school. Back in my day, all electronics had to stay in your locker exce

As an American, I'm at a loss trying to figure out when phones started being allowed in school. Back in my day, all electronics had to stay in your locker except your calculator, including pagers, personal organizers and for the very few kids who were wealthy enough to have one, phones as well. This would be about the time that Motorola and Nokia were selling giant bricks that they called phones. Edit: and no, school shootings had nothing to do with the change. We'd gone through Columbine not long before, and despite the media spamming everyone they're very rare even today.

ubj 2y ago
Also as an American, my experience was that the majority of high school students didn't care about the rules on phones. I attended high school when Motorola Razr flip phones were the hot new technology, and kids used them in class all time. People learned how to do T9 texts without looking so they could slip their hand into a backpack or pocket during class. There were even ringtones high pitched enough that adults typically didn't hear them. All of this under the threat of phones being confiscated if caught. I'm not defending the use of cell phones in class. But there have to be more effective ways to reduce their use among students rather than simply banning them.
- DaSHacka 2y ago
  > But there have to be more effective ways to reduce their use among students rather than simply banning them. Arguably those have all been tried, and don't work. I think it's not hard to imagine why algebra may be less captivating than a constant short-form-video dopamine stream for an adolecent.
bdangubic 2y ago
rare as in 1,200+ in the last 4 years… https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings that’s about 1,200 more than parents worry about anything else
- zdragnar 2y ago
  And the vast majority of those are accidental, drive by, and "escalation of dispute" per your link. These are not the kinds of shootings that parents want kids to be texting about, these are run of the mill gang activity. The mass violence shootings that you hear about on TV where anyone and everyone might be a victim are the exception, not the norm.
  - bdangubic 2y ago
    guessing you just might not be a parent yet…
    - zdragnar 2y ago
      When you live in a city with lots of crime and there's a shooting in the parking lot of the school at one in the morning, it's not really something that needs an urgent text from the kids.
      - bdangubic 2y ago
        I definitely agree. If my kid went to school in south side chicago I’d get bored getting texts 291 times per day, yea
        zdragnar 2y ago
        I think you've missed my point. Yes, I want to know these things happen. No, they are not such an emergency that my kid needs to be taking time from class to text me about it. Most schools in areas with lots of crime or gang activity have metal detectors and other security at the doors. Violence is happening off hours, or between gang members either off campus (but close enough to warrant bringing people inside) or at the edges. In a country with hundreds of millions of people, a thousand over four years is not exactly a rounding error given that it is concentrated in a few areas, but still close enough that the vast majority will never experience it in their lives.
warner25 2y ago
> trying to figure out when phones started being allowed in school I was a high school senior in 2003-2004, and my dad gave me a phone to use that year, and I think most of my classmates had one too, but I don't actually remember there being any problem or policy about it. I assume that's because phones were just phones at the time, and who were you going to call during class? I don't think I even sent or received a text message until a couple years later. By 2011, when my wife started teaching in a public high school, it was the wild west with phones. The school policy gave her the authority to take them away during class, but then she was responsible for documenting and safekeeping them, so she didn't bother despite the constant distraction as kids openly looked at them during class. The capabilities and market penetration grew so fast that I think most schools were just caught off guard, trying in vein to implement rules after the phones were already in every kid's hand.
- Izkata 2y ago
  I was around the same time as you, and I think the official rules for my school were simply that you can't use them in class. Exact repercussions left up to the individual teachers. Most didn't care unless it disrupted the class or was during a test, and a favorite for the class-disruption case was to answer the phone for the student and embarrass them.

ubj 2y ago

Also as an American, my experience was that the majority of high school students didn't care about the rules on phones. I attended high school when Motorola Razr flip phones were the hot new technology, and kids used them in class all time. People learned how to do T9 texts without looking so they could slip their hand into a backpack or pocket during class. There were even ringtones high pitched enough that adults typically didn't hear them. All of this under the threat of phones being confiscated if caught. I'm not defending the use of cell phones in class. But there have to be more effective ways to reduce their use among students rather than simply banning them.

DaSHacka 2y ago
> But there have to be more effective ways to reduce their use among students rather than simply banning them. Arguably those have all been tried, and don't work. I think it's not hard to imagine why algebra may be less captivating than a constant short-form-video dopamine stream for an adolecent.

bdangubic 2y ago

rare as in 1,200+ in the last 4 years… https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings that’s about 1,200 more than parents worry about anything else

zdragnar 2y ago
And the vast majority of those are accidental, drive by, and "escalation of dispute" per your link. These are not the kinds of shootings that parents want kids to be texting about, these are run of the mill gang activity. The mass violence shootings that you hear about on TV where anyone and everyone might be a victim are the exception, not the norm.
- bdangubic 2y ago
  guessing you just might not be a parent yet…
  - zdragnar 2y ago
    When you live in a city with lots of crime and there's a shooting in the parking lot of the school at one in the morning, it's not really something that needs an urgent text from the kids.
    - bdangubic 2y ago
      I definitely agree. If my kid went to school in south side chicago I’d get bored getting texts 291 times per day, yea
      - zdragnar 2y ago
        I think you've missed my point. Yes, I want to know these things happen. No, they are not such an emergency that my kid needs to be taking time from class to text me about it. Most schools in areas with lots of crime or gang activity have metal detectors and other security at the doors. Violence is happening off hours, or between gang members either off campus (but close enough to warrant bringing people inside) or at the edges. In a country with hundreds of millions of people, a thousand over four years is not exactly a rounding error given that it is concentrated in a few areas, but still close enough that the vast majority will never experience it in their lives.

warner25 2y ago

> trying to figure out when phones started being allowed in school I was a high school senior in 2003-2004, and my dad gave me a phone to use that year, and I think most of my classmates had one too, but I don't actually remember there being any problem or policy about it. I assume that's because phones were just phones at the time, and who were you going to call during class? I don't think I even sent or received a text message until a couple years later. By 2011, when my wife started teaching in a public high school, it was the wild west with phones. The school policy gave her the authority to take them away during class, but then she was responsible for documenting and safekeeping them, so she didn't bother despite the constant distraction as kids openly looked at them during class. The capabilities and market penetration grew so fast that I think most schools were just caught off guard, trying in vein to implement rules after the phones were already in every kid's hand.

Izkata 2y ago
I was around the same time as you, and I think the official rules for my school were simply that you can't use them in class. Exact repercussions left up to the individual teachers. Most didn't care unless it disrupted the class or was during a test, and a favorite for the class-disruption case was to answer the phone for the student and embarrass them.