Roberto Germán [00:00:00]:
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Roberto Germán [00:00:44]:
You welcome back to Our Classroom. I'm flying solo today, but I still have plenty to say, so rock with me. I appreciate y'all and I'll try to keep it nice and concise. I came up on an article in Chalkbeat, Indiana titled should students have cell phones in class? Indiana just said no with a few accepted this article was written by Aleksandra Appleton and it got me thinking about my experience in schools and just thinking about young people in general as it relates to having phones and utilizing phones in educational settings. Students in Indiana are going to have to put their phones away based on this new bill. It's going to require the districts to ban communication devices from classrooms. And I'm interested in this because I see both sides of the argument. And yet, I'll be completely honest with you, as former school principal, this is something I could definitely get behind because I felt we had numerous situations that surfaced in which students could have avoided conflict by simply not having access to their cell phones.
Roberto Germán [00:02:31]:
I know this could be a little controversial. We're talking about bands and stuff like that. However, I do think we have to have guidelines, and in this case, as it relates to technology, strong guidelines that can help support the learning environment and also help kids disconnect. I don't think it's good that our kids are always connected. I think it's all right if they don't have to utilize their phones during the school day. I mean, we know it's highly likely they are going to utilize some device because in this day and age, a lot of what we do relies on devices, relies on technology. So I think it's a reasonable request for us to ask our students to put their phones away as the Indiana students are being asked to do. And this is from the article.
Roberto Germán [00:03:42]:
Senate enrolled Act 185 bans any portable wireless device. The bill, which was signed into law recently by Governor Eric Holcomb, takes effect in July and requires districts, including charter schools, to adopt policies banning several types of devices during class time. Lawmakers and advocates hope the ban improves student engagement, behavior and mental health, all of which, they say have declined since cell phones became a common sight in students hands. They're part of a national push to enact bans on cell phones in schools. The mental health part gets my attention, as does behavior and student engagement. And there are a lot of studies out there. There's a lot of research, and I get it. I know that the technology has its purpose in supplementing the educational environment, but there has to be balance to everything.
Roberto Germán [00:04:57]:
And I'm not saying like we have to shut out all access to devices. I think I'm reasonable, think I'm fair. I think I'm balanced. I like being able to access devices for educational purposes. I'm saying during school time, because we know when they are outside of school, when they are doing their own thing, when our young people are home or in the other spaces in which they dwell, they are likely going to be on their devices. They're going to be on their cell phones, they're going to be on their laptops, they're going to be on their tablets. And so I think this is worth considering. What do you think? How do you all feel about this show? We got people all over the spectrum, all types of opinions.
Roberto Germán [00:06:01]:
I definitely get concerned about how hooked our kids are. I know there's some who would argue, well, maybe your classroom is not engaging enough, maybe that's true, but maybe the students have a really strong addiction. Can that be true? Also, can we be open to considering that? It's not like I'm speaking out of turn. It's not like I'm coming out of nowhere. There's research that tells us this. There's data that we could utilize to inform what's happening. These platforms are created to get you addicted so that you're just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. So let's consider the impact that is having on our learners.
Roberto Germán [00:07:11]:
Now, I know that simply banning cell phones isn't necessarily going to fix all the issues. And going back to this article in Chalkbeat, Indiana, under the new law, school districts will need to adopt policies banning communication devices during instructional time. That includes phones, tablets, laptops and gaming systems, as well as any other devices that can provide communication between two parties. Now, this received a lot of support. Schools, each individual school district will have to come up with their approach. So some students might be required to put their phones in locked pouches or designated spaces in the classroom. That's going to be up to the school board. So this will be interesting how it plays out.
Roberto Germán [00:08:13]:
Be interesting to see how each of these school districts rolls it out. I'm interested to hear what the students have to say about this, even though many of them probably are not going to necessarily be aligned with my opinion, but I would still want to hear from them. I think that's one thing that this article is missing because I noticed that it talks about the support that it received and many folks were behind it, staff members and parents. But it also stated that there were some adults who weren't with it and questioned what would happen if they need to communicate with their kids in the state of an emergency. To which I respond, well, what happened before we had cell phones? I'm old enough that I could say that I'm not that old, by the way. I just want to make that clear. But I'm old enough to remember not having a cell phone, parents having to call the school or show up at the school directly. Obviously, having cell phones and other devices have made things extremely convenient for us, but I don't think we're in foreign territory if we move in this direction.
Roberto Germán [00:09:58]:
There's plenty of other educational environments in other countries across the world that operate in this manner, and they seem to be doing just fine. So I'd ask us to have an open mind to not having to be in communication all the time. And oftentimes the communication, even from parents to students during school day, it's not based on an emergency, and therefore, in my opinion, it's often disruptive to the learning environment, disruptive to the child's learning. Sorry, I know this might not be a popular take with folks, but not necessarily here for the popular take. I'm here to engage us in conversation, push our thinking a little bit, ask questions right, further the dialogue. And I'm curious to hear from school leaders. I'm curious to hear from teachers, I'm curious to hear from parents, and I'm definitely curious to hear from students. But I want your honest opinion, hopefully one not based on emotion.
Roberto Germán [00:11:31]:
I want us to think logically. I want us to think practically. I want us to speak honestly and to analyze critically how the devices are impacting us. How's it impacting student engagement? How's it impacting behavior? How's it impacting mental health? As I think about this, I think about numerous situations that I encountered when I was principal, when I served as assistant principal. Think about sexting situations. Yikes. Think about situations in which kids were provoking others in hopes of capturing a viral moment. I think about situations in which kids were perhaps doing a foolish prank towards the teacher based on something that inspired them on TikTok.
Roberto Germán [00:12:44]:
And I wonder how much this is impacting us are we exaggerating? Am I exaggerating, or is there legitimate cause for concern here so that other school districts and other states move in this direction? I don't think this conversation is going away anytime soon. I'm not saying that I have the answer. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should not support a cell phone ban. But I do think that we have to strongly consider how much students being connected to devices is either helping them or harming them. And if it's doing more harm than help, and I do think it'd be worth moving in this direction. The article cited Evan Eagleson, regional advocacy director for excellent Ed, during testimony, and he said studies have shown students spend seven to 9 hours a day on their phones. You heard that, folks? Seven to 9 hours.
Roberto Germán [00:14:30]:
Crazy. Receiving around 237 notifications, a quarter of which occur during class time. I'll continue. Since COVID teachers report that student behavior, mental health issues linked to cell phones have spiked, said John O'Neill of the Indiana State Teachers association in his testimony. So, wow, those are some serious numbers to consider. Seven to 9 hours a day, 237 notifications. What is going on? Like, seriously, what's so important? And I know that some may say, well, the kids are running to these platforms such as TikTok, which might be banned soon, by the way, and Instagram to get their information. And that's what they're doing and they're learning.
Roberto Germán [00:15:45]:
And there is some good content on those platforms. I would know because my company creates content on those platforms and also very aware that there's a lot of misinformation, a lot of bad content out there. Nonetheless, I'm not saying they can't explore that stuff. Do your thing. But all of this during school time. No, that's too much. That's problematic. I want to see the kids thriving.
Roberto Germán [00:16:31]:
Right? So I think we could even couple this conversation by getting, getting a sense from the students what would be helpful to them in such a transition. Right. If we're going to limit the devices and their contact time on screen, especially as it relates to cell phones, what would be helpful to them? What would they find supportive? How can we further engage them? And I'm not even just talking about during class time, because I do believe we have to extend this conversation to what's happening in the other spaces, in other times of the school day. How do we see our kids growing in their socialization, right? So during lunchtime, are all the students on their phones? Are they actually sitting down, conversing with each other? Or maybe some students are taking that time to do written reflections somewhere, I don't know, different strokes, different folks. But when I think about the time that I spent in high school, I think about sitting at the lunch table with my friends, us just connecting with each other, talking about the different foods that we had, talking about the upcoming quiz attest next period, talking about the game, the basketball game. I played varsity basketball. So talking about how we performed the night before, all types of conversations. And at least for me, I know this is not for everybody, but I'm grateful that I had an experience during lunchtime in which I felt I was connected to my peers and building community.
Roberto Germán [00:18:58]:
And for the most part, it was enjoyable for me to connect with other students, and I think we lost that to some extent. Now, I want to be careful with the broad generalizations, but I'm not even just talking about in the school environment. When I look at a lot of our young people, they seem to struggle with connecting with each other in person. So I know they're connected in other ways. I know some of them are more social than some of our young people are more social than ever before because of all the different tools that are available now. Yet when it comes to socializing in person, a lot of our young folks, or many of our young folks seem to struggle with that. And I wonder what this looks like 510, 1520 years from now for our society. Now, one thing that did concern me.
Roberto Germán [00:20:24]:
I'll read this excerpt from the article. While the bill saw little opposition from advocates or lawmakers, some noted the potential increase in school discipline for students who try to circumvent their districts. New policies, the enforcement of the ban, as well as any potential consequences for students who violate it, will be up to school districts. So that gets my attention, and I would really want them to think carefully about this. This is where I would also want the voices of all the stakeholders, because you don't want something that you intend to help support. Students end up causing a great deal of harm, which is why earlier I was saying, I'm curious to know what the rollout plan is going to look like in each of these school districts, how it's going to be communicated, whose voices were at the table, and in this case, as it relates to discipline. I'm hopeful that the leaders are being mindful of implementing this in a way that doesn't end up causing a lot more problems for students, for teachers, for parents, and ultimately for the school leaders. These things happen.
Roberto Germán [00:22:12]:
I've seen them happen, especially when they're not done well, when folks haven't thought it through thoroughly. When there hasn't been a good communication plan, when you haven't had the buy in, then it could backfire. So I offer that as a caution. As with anything, we have to be strategic, we have to be mindful and we want to make sure that we are working together. I wish the schools in Indiana the best. I'm interested to see how this develops. Shout out to Aleksandra Appleton for covering this story. Her work focuses on Indiana education policy about K through twelve schools in the state of Indiana.
Roberto Germán [00:23:17]:
So we appreciate your work on this good fighter for conversation. And that's all for today as I promise. Nice and concise peace.
Roberto Germán [00:23:30]:
As always, your engagement in Our Classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show, and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the intersection of race bias education in society, go to multiculturalclassroom.com. Peace and love from your host Roberto Germán.
