Picture this: You’re sitting with your friends during Flex when all of a sudden your phone begins to vibrate in your backpack. You ignore it, following the school’s no phone policy. It vibrates again, then again, but you cannot answer it. After the third call worry sets in. You’ve been waiting to hear how your grandpa’s surgery went and three missed calls from your mom makes you worried about what could have happened.
In past years you would have been able to walk to the bench outside the flagpole to use your phone to contact your family while still maintaining a sense of privacy.
The cell phone area served as a useful resource when students felt sick, anxious, in need of advice, or simply to figure out after school logistics. Students could briefly step away, handle their business, and return without any commotion.
Cell phones have become an integral part of society and are something many adults and faculty rely on, so why should students not be given this same tool?
Senior Rachel Mattecheck says that the cell phone area has been a useful resource in the past. She feels that “taking away the cell phone area is unfair to the students and creates a divide between teachers and students.”
The Jesuit Student Handbook phone policy states, “Cell phone use is not allowed on campus during the school day, including passing periods, breaks, Flex Periods, or lunch.” Leaving minimal ways for parent and student contact.
Some parents have taken to email as a means of communication with their students but email is not as timely as text messages. Not to mention Jesuit’s ability to monitor emails might make some families hesitant to use it for sensitive matters.
Harvard states that parents feel “the cost of not being able to get a hold of their kid(s) may outweigh any potential benefit accrued from” phone bans. Yet the current school policy makes this difficult.
Part of the phone policy says that if a student has an emergency they may go to the Deirienger front office to make a phone call but a key part of the cell phone area was the privacy it offered. Giving students a place where they felt like they could be in control and able to have personal conversations.
Giving students limited but reasonable access to their phones is not a risk to learning but a way to teach students how to responsibly use phones as a tool.
Opinions published on Jesuitnews.com represent the beliefs of the writer(s) and don’t necessarily reflect those of Jesuit Media, Jesuitnews.com, The Jesuit Chronicle, or Jesuit High School.
Sources:
Harvard: Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Cellphones in Schools
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/22/08/weighing-costs-and-benefits-cellphones-schools
Jesuit Student Handbook
Rachel Mattecheck
