Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 3 april 2018
Cellphones gaining acceptance inside U.S. schools

By CAROLYN THOMPSON increase in cheating, you
Associated Press see an increase in texting
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) during class.”
— Cellphones are still In Connecticut, Seymour
absent from most U.S. High School Principal
schools but new data Jim Freund said despite
shows them steadily teachers’ best efforts to
gaining acceptance as limit cellphone use to lunch
administrators bow to and other non-instructional
parents’ wishes to keep times, students were still
tabs on their kids and playing games or on social
teachers find ways to work media when they shouldn’t
them into lessons. have been.
The percentage of “I don’t think they had the
K-12 public schools that maturity level to control it,”
prohibited cellphone use Freund said.
was about 66 percent in The school imposed a
2015-16, down from more strict ban in December.
than 90 percent in 2009- Since then, students have
10, according to data reported getting more
from a survey conducted work done in study hall and
by the National Center the cafeteria has grown
for Education Statistics. louder as students talk to
Among high schools, the one another more, he said.
shift over the same period “I will never go back —
was especially striking — ever — to allowing the use
dropping from 80 percent of cellphones,” Freund said.
with bans to 35 percent. In this March 13, 2014 file photo, Hartselle High School students Lissa Blagburn and Brantlee Wright Even in schools that have
The nation’s largest school use an iPhone as they work on a networked lesson in Spanish class in Hartselle, Ala. lifted bans, administrators
system, New York City, is Associated Press and experts say, the
among those that have parked nearby before 2015, saying it would help students access to tablets policies for use vary widely.
abandoned strict bans, heading into school. parents stay in touch with or laptop computers and “You see districts struggling
which had some students Mayor Bill de Blasio fulfilled their children. their countless academic with, now that we’ve
paying $1 a day to store a campaign pledge Phones have offered a apps and programs, she lifted the ban, how do
phones in specialty trucks when he lifted the ban in lifeline between students said. we manage this and
and the outside world “There are teachers who create policy so that it
during recent school have found that having the isn’t distracting but it is still
emergencies. As a gunman cellphone is like having a a useful communication
rampaged through Marjory computer in your pocket, tool or useful learning tool,”
Stoneman Douglas High so it’s a way to have said Kolb, author of “Toys to
School in Parkland, Florida, another learning tool at the Tools: Connecting Student
on Feb. 14, students used disposal of the children that Cell Phones to Education.”
cellphones to text their isn’t necessarily costing the Even within schools, she’s
parents, call 911 and to district more money,” she seen cellphones create
record and share their said. tensions between teachers
horror. Students might download who allow them in class
The survey numbers a dictionary app for English and those who don’t.
released last week don’t or use Google Translate in New York City’s policy
surprise Liz Kolb, an foreign language classes. empowers each school
education technologies Other apps, like Kahoot!, to set terms for their use,
professor at the University of connect to the classroom’s while the Department of
Michigan who has studied smart board and allow Education’s written policy
cellphones in schools since students to compete in includes broad guidelines,
around 2004. At that time, educational trivia. including that they not be
phones were off limits in Still, some school districts turned on or used during
virtually every district, she are moving in the opposite quizzes or tests, or during
said. That began to change direction. The school board fire or other emergency
as more students, as young in Mansfield City, Ohio, last drills. Use in bathrooms and
as age 10, began carrying year tightened its policy, locker rooms is also off limits.
them. requiring the devices be New York City parent Mona
“We’ve seen a lot of schools turned off and out of sight Davids said her son’s school
say, well, I’m not going in classrooms unless the requires phones be turned
to fight the tidal wave of teacher says otherwise. off in class, but she was
parents coming at me that “The cellphones happy the fourth-grader
are upset that their child were a distraction,” was allowed to carry it
can’t have the cellphone Superintendent Brian when his school bus broke
in school,” Kolb said. Garverick said. “When you down and made him late
Teachers also are taking have a device with the getting home.
In this Aug. 3, 2016 file photo, Jeffersonville High School junior advantage of the capabilities of an iPhone, “He let me know he’s on
Martin Ojeda talks with a friend on the phone between classes
at the school in Jeffersonville, Ind., where students at the are technology at a time when for example — and it’s the bus,” she said. “That’s
allowed to use phones during the day. many districts are spending not just in our district, it’s important. It’s a safety
Associated Press millions of dollars to give everywhere — you see an issue.”q