Phones or Focus?

The all-too-familiar scene in classrooms across the nation is a depressing one: a teacher lecturing to disengaged students on their phones. Teachers know what the students are doing but are sick and tired of fighting.
Across America, phone use in classrooms is a problem. No teacher can compete with a phone when it comes to grabbing attention, and no student will choose to listen to a lecture when they can zone out on their phone. And so, schools have been forced to take drastic measures to bring students back to the classroom.
Highland is among the many schools nationwide to ban phones in the classroom. The goal, according to Highland principal Jeremy Chatterton, is to reengage students in the classroom. To pull students back into focus and get them back to learning. Also, to make classrooms more vibrant and exciting because, let’s be honest, the most fun classrooms are the ones where you don’t feel the need to be on your phone. It’s when you’re bored out of your mind that you start scrolling on Instagram or Tik Tok.
Now of course, even the most interesting and engaging classroom can’t be interesting all the time. Teachers have to distribute information, and it’s not always fun. That’s the nature of the world. But in those times, it’s equally important to pay attention.
This is why the phone ban is ultimately a good thing.
By reengaging students, schools will once again become both centers of learning and community because, let’s face it, school is the center of our social lives. Most of your friends are people you met in the classroom or on one of Highland’s many sports teams, clubs, or any of the extracurriculars out there. You met them asking for help, being bored out of your minds together, or just by sitting at the same table.
Seriously, picture your closest friends. Where did you meet them? Odds are, you met them here at Highland or at one of the feeder schools. You probably remember countless conversations on the most random topics. You remember all the inside jokes you and your friends have from that one science class, the look that you immediately understand that came from English years ago. Think back to every fond memory you have with them. Every memory of studying together, of having fun together, of just being together.
None of those memories would exist if those people were on their phones. We’re in the period of our lives where our friends are some of the most important people in the world. Losing that to phones is a tragedy.
Reengaging in the classroom also means everyone is getting a better education. Just by removing that distraction, students are already learning more, understanding more, and becoming smarter people.
In the SLCSD, public high schools have an average math proficiency score of a measly 26%. Reading proficiency scores are at 54%. We need to do better. Some of that is how Covid disrupted the classrooms and put students behind. But it’s also the students’ fault. It’s our fault. These scores should not be this low. Not even remotely.
Banning phones in the classroom means that you will learn more. It’s as simple as that. By removing that massive distraction, test scores will improve simply because students are forced to focus more in class.
This ban isn’t asking much. It’s 90 minutes of your time off your phone. That isn’t really that long in the grand scheme of things.
Staying off your phone has become a necessary skill in the modern world. You don’t get to sit and scroll on your phone at work when you’re bored. You don’t get to zone out when your boss is explaining something. You have to stay focused in the real world.
Right now, if a teacher sees you on your phone, you’re told to put your phone away and that’s that. In a few short years at your job, you won’t be told to put your phone away. You’ll be told to clean out your desk.
This makes being able to stay off your phone a vital life skill.
Of course, there are unintended consequences.
One of these is improved grades. Students are being given time to do their work, and so it’s being done. Grades will improve across the board because of this phone ban. That will take some of the stress off students, increase Utah’s national standing, and give Highland’s students a better chance at a good life after high school because education is the key.
Education is critical to success in life. Now, there are many forms of success. Money isn’t everything, but education does more than just help you get a higher income. It gives you a richer understanding about life, gives you a pathway to a bright future. This phone ban is ensuring we don’t squander that opportunity.
Another effect of this ban is Highland’s drug trade has dramatically fallen. Previously, some students coordinated meetings during class periods when no one was around. Now, according to Chatterton, the administration has seen incredibly lower levels of drug trafficking than in previous years. Not that it hasn’t gone away completely, but without the main form of communication, it has collapsed.
Schools should ideally not be a place where drug networks thrive. Keeping drugs out of children’s hands is a noble cause, and so even if all that this ban accomplishes is crushing the drug trade, it will be worth it.
Ultimately, this is a good ban. This ban will help our future. Education is the biggest factor in our future. By banning phones, Highland is ensuring we have a good one.