In California, a high school teacher complains that students watch Netflix on their phones during class. In Maryland, a chemistry teacher says students use gambling apps to place bets during the school day.
Around the country, educators say students routinely send Snapchat messages in class, listen to music and shop online, among countless other examples of how smartphones distract from teaching and learning.
The hold that phones have on adolescents in America today is well-documented, but teachers say parents are often not aware to what extent students use them inside the classroom. And increasingly, educators and experts are speaking with one voice on the question of how to handle it: Ban phones during classes.
When I was a kid, Columbine made national headlines for years. Now we have a school shooting almost every day.
When I was a kid, textbook rental at my public school in my senior year of high school cost more than any given semester of college tuition for either of my parents.
It’s easy to look back and think you’ve seen this all before, but you never step foot in the same river twice and this one’s a lot deeper and wider than the one you used to wade in.
You had me at textbook rental in in a public high school. Wtf is that a thing now?