Progress of the Phone Ban

By Isabella Pena

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   I do not think the phone ban is working as the people who introduced the law had planned. In every class that I attend, regardless of whether other students have been caught or not, there is a phone out. Some students and teachers even state that there is a separate policy forbidding students from listening to music WITH wired earbuds during class, which surprised me. I still do not know if that is a real policy or not, but when I tried to research the details of it online, nothing came up.

   The policy doesn’t stop the people who are often on their phones during school hours, and hinders everyone else by severing the easiest and quickest mode of communication between students and their homes. Even though teachers are allowed to use their wireless devices during class, as far as I am aware, it still feels very unfair and like there is a clear lack of respect for the students. We have to abide by the rule to the letter, and yet they still find it appropriate to pull out their phones to message family members or search up basic information on Google? Students are expected to automatically give teachers their due respect, but when the situation is flipped, we are never offered the same.

   Especially with the growing number of fire evacuations that have been taking place in Powell High School specifically, it’s unfair to students in a moment of panic, when we are not told why or what is happening inside the school, for us to not be allowed to contact home and our families. And parents as well cannot contact their children during these emergencies. These are not just valid concerns, but the policy itself does little to address the root cause and reason for students being on their phones excessively during school hours.

   The way to solve problems is never to stop the result, but to stop the core issue.