[HN Gopher] Minnesota middle school students 'seem happy' after ...
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Minnesota middle school students 'seem happy' after cellphone ban
Author : hammock
Score : 61 points
Date : 2023-12-04 19:46 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.newsnationnow.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.newsnationnow.com)
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| This has to be done by the school, there is not a critical mass
| of parents able to stop existing momentum.
| bonestamp2 wrote:
| Yep, we had a pact with the parents of my kids and several of
| them caved early and now we look like the bad guys. That's ok,
| sometimes we have to be the bad guys. Hopefully, like me and my
| parents, the child appreciates later in life why the parent did
| things a certain way. Obviously, we have explained to them why
| they can't have phones yet, but they don't agree of course.
|
| For when my kids do get phones, I want a way to disable social
| media in blocks for different mac addresses/different times.
| Anybody know of a device that I can bolt on to any network to
| add that functionality?
| srcreigh wrote:
| Have you considered a pihole with a blocklist config which
| covers social media domains?
| gnicholas wrote:
| There is the Wait Until Eighth campaign (though I personally
| think 9th makes much more sense, given the break between 8th
| and 9th grades. https://www.waituntil8th.org/
| ilikeitdark wrote:
| A group of students and teachers in Barcelona are trying for a
| mobile phone ban as well.
| christkv wrote:
| Our school in Oviedo (co-operative run school) has a no phones
| policy and it's great. No peer pressure since everyone is in
| the same boat.
| johnea wrote:
| That article sucked 8-/
|
| Just repeating the headline doesn't make an article, it is
| literaly 3 sentences long...
| jjulius wrote:
| >Just repeating the headline doesn't make an article, it is
| literaly 3 sentences long...
|
| This makes it sound like you only read the three bullet points
| underneath the headline and didn't bother scrolling further,
| down to the parts where the middle school principal discusses
| the policy.
| wavemode wrote:
| The news here for me is that grade schools nowadays are allowing
| phone use in the first place
| ABeeSea wrote:
| Schools should just be allowed to have cell jammers.
| timenova wrote:
| A blanket ban on cell phones in schools will hamper teachers
| and staff too. Plus, the usual reason why jamming is illegal in
| most countries: dialling emergency numbers!
| pmorici wrote:
| I wonder if they could wire the jamming system into the fire
| alarm. Pulling the alarm turns off the jamming.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| If only. Our school _mandates_ big tech slavery. Use microsoft
| and google and more or do not graduate.
| doublemint2203 wrote:
| fellow teenager on hn spotted
| lukev wrote:
| I'm a little surprised this is newsworthy... this is already the
| policy at my kid's middle school (NC public schools.)
|
| Is it that uncommon? I get that it's probably harder to enforce
| into the upper grades...
| HDThoreaun wrote:
| Most schools allow phones outside of class time. This policy
| bans phones on school grounds altogether
| huytersd wrote:
| Just have a jammer on school premises and use mac auth for the
| wifi in addition to the the metal detectors at the entrance.
| doublemint2203 wrote:
| teachers/faculty?
| easton wrote:
| The jammer will get you a visit from the friendly people at
| the FCC.
|
| Much easier to just make your school have some thick walls
| that prevent cell signals :)
| gnicholas wrote:
| Even if fac/staff had a way around this, it would wreak havoc
| on parents and other visitors. I can't volunteer at my kid's
| school if it means I would be unreachable by my other kid's
| school. Or my spouse/doctor/etc.
| gnicholas wrote:
| Same here. Our public school here in Menlo Park doesn't allow
| smartphones to be used at school, and I think even Apple
| Watches are technically prohibited.
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| Why does HNs readership, a group of people who got their start in
| computers as kids by likely using technology in ways that were
| subversive (I.e programming calculators to solve test problems
| that peers had to solve by hand as intro to programming), seem to
| support banning cellphones for students?
|
| The benefit to society of one kid jailbreaking their cellphone
| and doing something cool with it outweighs Becky's and Stacie's
| and Brads distracting themselves from the "learning" that they
| are unlikely to use anyway.
|
| All of these authoritarian school policies are done simply
| because we as a society are unwilling to end compulsory
| schooling. Students who are disruptive or don't want to be in
| class shouldn't be forced to attend. Teachers should have zero
| power to "discipline" except to expel students from their
| classroom.
|
| The alternative today is teachers as little tyrants and it's
| terrible. Teachers are not the arbiters of truth on how effective
| you are at producing for society, but we sure treat them like it.
|
| Every bad grade you get in high school or later is a piece of
| lobster thermador, or a newer car, taken away from you because
| you didn't make your teacher happy.
|
| Edit: downvotes without argumentative responses are lazy and show
| an unwillingness to engage with the only genuinely anti-
| authoritarian take in this thread. I forgot that HN actually
| loves to lick boots!
| Sakos wrote:
| HNs readership grew up in times when where cellphone usage was
| limited in schools by nature and also by policy (using them in
| class certainly was never allowed or tolerated).
|
| It also feels like you have extremely out-of-the-norm takes on
| schooling in general. Most people do not want to end compulsory
| education and don't see the wider benefit in doing so. I
| primarily see downsides to it, in fact.
|
| > Teachers should have zero power to "discipline" except to
| expel students from their classroom.
|
| This sounds like dogma based on bias instead of anything
| factual. Why shouldn't teachers be able to discipline students?
|
| > Teachers are not the arbiters of truth on how effective you
| are at producing for society, but we sure treat them like it.
|
| No, we have given teachers a purpose and a responsibility, and
| we generally give them the room and autonomy and authority to
| carry that out in the best interests of our children.
|
| This might not be universal, but this is not an issue with
| schooling fundamentally, but with the specifics of schooling in
| a particular place and time. I hear plenty of nightmare-is
| things about schools in the US, but that doesn't mean schools
| as a concept are flawed. Plenty of other places manage to have
| decent schools that actually serve their purpose quite well.
| donatj wrote:
| As a former student of a Minnesota district right outside
| Minneapolis, it's interesting to me that they were allowed at
| all.
|
| When I was in school in the late 90's / early aughts we weren't
| even supposed to have our Discman or early MP3 players on school
| property. We all had them of course, but if they were seen they
| could be confiscated - I think it was largely an empty threat but
| I never saw anyone push it. Some teachers would happily allow you
| to use them in class.
|
| They were also VERY suspicious any time you had your graphing
| calculator out outside math class, and some of the ruder study
| hall attendants would clear your calculators memory of games.
|
| Gameboy or anything of the like certainly would not have flown. I
| remember my friend actually getting special permission to bring
| his laptop in.
| tempsy wrote:
| This is a weird comment. Did you really think most schools
| widely police cell phone usage in the year 2023?
| donatj wrote:
| I am well aware that they don't police it.
|
| What I don't understand why the attitudes towards personal
| technology swung so quickly.
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(page generated 2023-12-04 23:00 UTC)