Are graphing calculators actually useful for doing math, compared to scientific calculators? I got a 5 in AP Calc AB, and took several university math classes, and never owned one or wished I did.
I know this is a random nitpick, but sometimes I feel like I'm taking crazy pills... my friends all bought $100 computers, and they never seemed to actually need them.
Side note: do these implementation policies that lock phones away effectively mean there is actually a way to prevent my phone from blaring out automatic alerts (even when silenced) whenever there's severe weather or an amber or silver alert within some arbitrary radius? Or are they all expected to turn them off fully, too?
This seems to be part of a general pattern in the 2020s where post covid, we've decided as a society that rules are for tools. You see the same pattern in traffic enforcement in SF where we've decided to not enforce anything and then wonder why traffic deaths are up.
Yes, enforcement of rules might make someone mad. Oh well - grow the F up and follow the rules. Don't speed, leave the phone at home, and don't bring it into the school should not be hard.
Just want to chime in to say that, as a veteran high school teacher, I can attest to the phone issue personally. About five years ago I noticed that I was growing more and more agitated because I was spending half my time playing "phone police" in my own classroom. (I don't say that with any snark, by the way. I don't blame teens for struggling to resist their phones. Sometimes *I* struggle to resist picking up my phone, and I'm a grown adult!)
Anyway, what I did was I got an old 8-track holder off of eBay and made it a class policy that phones go in the slots at the beginning of class and they come out at the end of class. It's been a total sea change in the level of engagement and focus I get during instruction and activities now. And honestly / surprisingly, I get a minuscule amount of grumbling or griping about it from the kiddos. (Part of me hopes that deep down they know I'm doing it for their own good and they appreciate that fact. ...But that's a big hope!)
I was about to go with “well enforcement is complicated” but nope, just 100% correct, right move in all settings, just needs to be implemented effectively.
What is the consensus (if there is one) on a centre-left blog like this with regards to public sector unions? I get private sector is broadly if not universally applauded on the left, but I'd be curious to hear the centre-left crowd on the public side of the ledger.
While it's true that the Biden administration has softened the Obama-era initiatives that weakened punitive school discipline, we still have a federal system in which individual states have a lot of influence over the contours of public education, and from what I have seen in California, some states are continuing to double down on avoiding punitive measures to coerce desired behaviors. The issue with cell phones in the classroom is related to the rise of chronic absenteeism from school since 2020. Some families and their kids will choose self-destructive behaviors if permitted, and it's fine for schools to create guardrails and consequences to try to curb some of these behaviors.
Since education is mostly signaling wouldn’t a phone ban disrupt the signal to employers that kids with bad grades are easily distractable and will struggle to do a decent job when phones are ubiquitous?
I remember growing up and it was not uncommon for kids to have hunting rifles in their vehicles that they forgot to put up after the weekend. I also remember basically nobody having issue saying that it was a good idea to enforce not allowing them on campus. I'm actually more than a little afraid to dive on current trends in that area.
I'm a little torn, as I feel "three strikes laws" are often abused and can lead to their own problems, but I see no reason to let this stop enforcing of rules on what is allowed. Especially since the goal is a better school environment.
My high school had a policy that you had to check hunting firearms in at the vice principal’s office during the school day. This was mostly for guys who got in an hour or so hunt between sunrise and school.
this feels like a waste of print and attack on a strawman. Why conflate the issue of whether parents should restrict kids’ use of phones and social media and the entirely different question about whether phones should be allowed in the classroom?
For everyone in favor of a smart phone ban, here's an interesting twist: Extend the smart phone ban to teachers too.
The benefits would be similar (teachers get distracted too!). The costs would be similar (teachers will have to use a dumb phone/computer to contact with people outside their work for the school day—just like students would have to). Plus you get an extra benefit: the appearance of solidarity/legitimacy. The teacher is no longer telling the student "you must do this because you're under my power." Instead, the teacher is telling the student "you must do this because it's what's best—as evidenced by me doing it too."
Is your gut reaction is "no, that's too costly for the teacher"?
If so, I'd gently suggest that perhaps you aren't giving enough weight to the costs of a smart phone ban felt by students under Matt's proposal.
Smartphones aren't like cigs, they have tons of positive benefits too. But there are costs and policymakers should weigh those costs in setting policy around phones.
My hot take as a parent of 2 kids, aged 13 and 17: phones need to be out of the classroom (mandated in our middle school but not our high school) AND all the tech trends for using laptops in class are a goddamn disaster. The enthusiasm for tech has vastly outpaced the guardrails. The kids are busy playing during class time. Meanwhile the school blew off one kid’s handwriting issues with “he’ll just type” then it turned out that a laptop was too distracting and he has to do everything on paper. Smart.
I didn't have a laptop in class until law school (which dates me, I know) but probably explains why I was a C-student in law school after spending basically my entire life prior to that as an A/B-student.
One of the worst things about sending my kid to kindergarten is finding out they are already required to have little ipads (that we have to keep charged and will have to pay for if lost or broken or stolen). Why is this useful, let alone necessary in Kindergarten?
Are graphing calculators actually useful for doing math, compared to scientific calculators? I got a 5 in AP Calc AB, and took several university math classes, and never owned one or wished I did.
I know this is a random nitpick, but sometimes I feel like I'm taking crazy pills... my friends all bought $100 computers, and they never seemed to actually need them.
Side note: do these implementation policies that lock phones away effectively mean there is actually a way to prevent my phone from blaring out automatic alerts (even when silenced) whenever there's severe weather or an amber or silver alert within some arbitrary radius? Or are they all expected to turn them off fully, too?
This seems to be part of a general pattern in the 2020s where post covid, we've decided as a society that rules are for tools. You see the same pattern in traffic enforcement in SF where we've decided to not enforce anything and then wonder why traffic deaths are up.
Yes, enforcement of rules might make someone mad. Oh well - grow the F up and follow the rules. Don't speed, leave the phone at home, and don't bring it into the school should not be hard.
Just want to chime in to say that, as a veteran high school teacher, I can attest to the phone issue personally. About five years ago I noticed that I was growing more and more agitated because I was spending half my time playing "phone police" in my own classroom. (I don't say that with any snark, by the way. I don't blame teens for struggling to resist their phones. Sometimes *I* struggle to resist picking up my phone, and I'm a grown adult!)
Anyway, what I did was I got an old 8-track holder off of eBay and made it a class policy that phones go in the slots at the beginning of class and they come out at the end of class. It's been a total sea change in the level of engagement and focus I get during instruction and activities now. And honestly / surprisingly, I get a minuscule amount of grumbling or griping about it from the kiddos. (Part of me hopes that deep down they know I'm doing it for their own good and they appreciate that fact. ...But that's a big hope!)
I was about to go with “well enforcement is complicated” but nope, just 100% correct, right move in all settings, just needs to be implemented effectively.
Correction: The best TI-86 game was Penguins.
What is the consensus (if there is one) on a centre-left blog like this with regards to public sector unions? I get private sector is broadly if not universally applauded on the left, but I'd be curious to hear the centre-left crowd on the public side of the ledger.
Schools can write all of the cell phone ban policies they want to, but it's basically the parents who will either enforce them or not.
Have you noticed the spread of smart watches in schools? It's happening and would partially end-run phone restrictions.
While it's true that the Biden administration has softened the Obama-era initiatives that weakened punitive school discipline, we still have a federal system in which individual states have a lot of influence over the contours of public education, and from what I have seen in California, some states are continuing to double down on avoiding punitive measures to coerce desired behaviors. The issue with cell phones in the classroom is related to the rise of chronic absenteeism from school since 2020. Some families and their kids will choose self-destructive behaviors if permitted, and it's fine for schools to create guardrails and consequences to try to curb some of these behaviors.
It would take Congress or the FCC to do the first part, but:
1) allow cell phone jammers on school campuses.
2) disable (or password-protect) the WiFi.
Since education is mostly signaling wouldn’t a phone ban disrupt the signal to employers that kids with bad grades are easily distractable and will struggle to do a decent job when phones are ubiquitous?
Sigh. Education is not mainly signaling. The Caplan crew is quite wrong about this.
There is a relationship between years of schooling and human capital.
What kind of relationship? It certainly seems plausible that years of schools reflects ability and not the other way around.
I remember growing up and it was not uncommon for kids to have hunting rifles in their vehicles that they forgot to put up after the weekend. I also remember basically nobody having issue saying that it was a good idea to enforce not allowing them on campus. I'm actually more than a little afraid to dive on current trends in that area.
I'm a little torn, as I feel "three strikes laws" are often abused and can lead to their own problems, but I see no reason to let this stop enforcing of rules on what is allowed. Especially since the goal is a better school environment.
My high school had a policy that you had to check hunting firearms in at the vice principal’s office during the school day. This was mostly for guys who got in an hour or so hunt between sunrise and school.
this feels like a waste of print and attack on a strawman. Why conflate the issue of whether parents should restrict kids’ use of phones and social media and the entirely different question about whether phones should be allowed in the classroom?
What is Matt conflating? He made it very clear in the subheading that he's making a narrow case.
For everyone in favor of a smart phone ban, here's an interesting twist: Extend the smart phone ban to teachers too.
The benefits would be similar (teachers get distracted too!). The costs would be similar (teachers will have to use a dumb phone/computer to contact with people outside their work for the school day—just like students would have to). Plus you get an extra benefit: the appearance of solidarity/legitimacy. The teacher is no longer telling the student "you must do this because you're under my power." Instead, the teacher is telling the student "you must do this because it's what's best—as evidenced by me doing it too."
Is your gut reaction is "no, that's too costly for the teacher"?
If so, I'd gently suggest that perhaps you aren't giving enough weight to the costs of a smart phone ban felt by students under Matt's proposal.
I'm quite fine with the ban on teacher usage.
Smartphones aren't like cigs, they have tons of positive benefits too. But there are costs and policymakers should weigh those costs in setting policy around phones.
I'd be fine with banning them in any workplace that felt a ban was useful.
Honestly, I'd LOVE it if my grad school banned them...
Teachers aren’t using it while teaching.
I had some who did!
My hot take as a parent of 2 kids, aged 13 and 17: phones need to be out of the classroom (mandated in our middle school but not our high school) AND all the tech trends for using laptops in class are a goddamn disaster. The enthusiasm for tech has vastly outpaced the guardrails. The kids are busy playing during class time. Meanwhile the school blew off one kid’s handwriting issues with “he’ll just type” then it turned out that a laptop was too distracting and he has to do everything on paper. Smart.
I didn't have a laptop in class until law school (which dates me, I know) but probably explains why I was a C-student in law school after spending basically my entire life prior to that as an A/B-student.
One of the worst things about sending my kid to kindergarten is finding out they are already required to have little ipads (that we have to keep charged and will have to pay for if lost or broken or stolen). Why is this useful, let alone necessary in Kindergarten?