Rumors stir that a banning of phones will be coming next year for Arlington High school, and it has raised some questions. However, students have found a way to make this seem as if it is a set in stone plan for the following year. The typical exaggeration of gossip from the students seems to have spread to make people believe it is going to be in form for next fall.
“Yeah, I think we have a lot of potential problems,” said Arlington High school Principal Marilee Herman. “…kids have turned [the rumor] into something it is not…as people tend to when they listen to rumors rather than asking questions,” Mrs. Herman said.
In the state of Washington, the Seattle Public Schools (SPS) has already begun a district wide ban on cell phones in the classroom for high school students, and no phones at all for middle and elementary school. Superintendent Ben Shuldiner was quoted in the Seattle Times saying that cellphones are “addictive” and are the thing that is taking away students’ instruction from teachers.
However, Washington has not ordered a statewide phone ban in schools. They did pass a senate bill via the legislature saying that the Office Superintendent of Public Instruction to do research on the impact of phones on teens, but nothing that involves restricting the use in school.
Some parents in the state, mostly with children and teens in the SPS, claim that the policy is ‘Not strict enough’ and that there needs to be more done to keep students off their phones and engaged.
“I mean, people will find new things to get distracted by,” Junior Secretary Brayden Jewett of Arlington High school said. He believes that it may not be worth all the trouble but it could be a possible help with cheating within the classroom.
With phones out of the picture within the halls of Arlington, teachers could connect with students’ more, they could engage in their learning and truly be able to teach students as they are paid to do. It seems as if this could be the fix that changes everything in the classroom? Well, not quite.
“Yeah, I think with A.I. becoming such a big issue, it’s not even phones really” Blake Jacobs (‘27) said. “…It will probably just cause more harm than good, because people are just going to do whatever they want anyways. The rules aren’t stopping them,” Jacobs said.
It’s no question that students are against this, based on the social norms of being able to have a phone on them in free time during class. Although other issues seem to have an impact on schools rather than just cell phones. Kids using bathroom passes as social hours, drug deals, and ways to skip out on going to class. The amount of fights that break out on a yearly basis and the constant battle with bullying and hazing of other pupils throughout the school. Yes, the phones are a problem and have been for a while, but there are other issues that seem to be more life changing and crucial to students’ livelihoods than simply missing a lecture because they were on their phones.
“I feel like if people want to be on their phones, they are going to be on their phones,” Jacobs said. He is a big believer that this technology is a crucial part of our future, and taking them away could impact careers in the future.
So, there are two take-aways from this. That we aren’t certain if there will be a phone ban policy happening throughout Arlington Public Schools next fall, and if it happens, the information on it is blurry and unclear on how it works. As well as staff and superintendents being so focused on the phones being the problem, that they have overlooked more important ones, which involves the safety of students’ lives and even teachers. Lets hope this is the beginning of a change in schools across the globe, and the start of a better future. Just don’t overlook other possible problems that could be masked by the district’s new phone policy.
