Oh, ffs.

[conuly]

Don't text your kid at school for no damn reason, folks!

If you want that much daily contact with your child - homeschool!

But on another note, every time I see an article about schools having trouble enforcing no-phone policies I keep thinking this: every teen shoplifter knows you can make a simple faraday cage for your tagged goods by lining a bag with aluminum foil. Then you can smuggle your whatever-it-is past the door and not get stopped with a beep. This same principle is why cell service inside elevators sucks - those things are made of metal and it blocks everything.

So, on that note, it should not be impossible to retrofit your school from top to bottom to make cell service too shitty to be worthwhile... and so long as you're using passive methods then it's all legal! (This may also be an option if you're a teacher in a single classroom and expected to decorate. Who says you can't decorate with metal? Line your classroom with cookie tins, guys! Who doesn't want a shiny classroom that, coincidentally, has the worst cell and wifi service in the state?)

Edit: I just googled, and faraday paints and wallpaper are things you can buy. As always, I believe functional engineering solutions are superior than behavioral ones. If you make it so that kids can't text in class then you will no longer have to spend energy trying to stop them from doing it. So, while this might actually not be feasible for a teacher, any school which is really irritated by this should consider trying to find the funding to redo their paint. In my experience, all schools are badly overdue for a paint job anyway. Shove a metal grid over the windows and you will be good to go.

Comments

[cellio]

And those kids will grow into clueless, entitled adults who do not know how to function in the workplace and in society at large. Tethering to mommy and daddy should end sometime soon after toilet training and learning to cross the street. This is ridiculous.

A paint job is a good idea, but schools that actually care about this could also support teachers collecting cell phones and not giving them back. Sure, some rich kid will show up with a decoy phone to turn in, but for most students (and parents) this would work. Students went to school without the ability to instantly phone home for centuries.

[conuly]

A paint job is a good idea, but schools that actually care about this could also support teachers collecting cell phones and not giving them back.

No school is going to support teachers taking away a $500 or more tool and not giving it back, even if it's not necessary. And unfortunately, it is often necessary.

Furthermore, taking away the phone requires time and energy. It requires teachers to see the phone, to tell the kid to get off the phone, to take the phone, to have a place to put it (even if just until the end of the period), possibly multiple times every hour. This is all disruptive, and some kids won't get caught.

If you block the signal from the start, you don't have that hassle. Why give yourself a discipline issue when you can sidestep the entire matter? It's just easier to make it an engineering problem instead of a discipline problem.

It's the same with everything. It's easier to put barriers up on bridges rather than to try to rescue jumpers. It's easier to put a barrier between the street and the bike lane than to rely on drivers to respect a painted line. It's easier to have an IUD than to remember to consistently use a condom - and it's a heck of a lot easier than trying to keep track of your ovulation! It's easier to put the tasty dog treats in a drawer rather than to trust my dog. (My dogs are not trustworthy.)

When you take human behavior out of the equation, you get better results.

[cellio]

Whoops, left out an important part -- "not giving them back until the end of the day". Sigh... brain faster than fingers, apparently.

You're right that managing it becomes a burden, yeah.

[conuly]

That makes much more sense than what you said, lol!

But even giving it back to the end of the day, that means having some sort of system to keep track of whose phone is whose, and putting the onus on keeping the phone safe from theft and damage on the school rather than the students. Plus you get a cluster of kids at the end of the school day - or, worse, in a school with staggered schedules, at the end of each of the last few periods of the day - trying to get their phones. I remember what a nuisance it was for teachers to sign kids' dailies at the end of each period! And what if the teacher leaves before the students, or the student grabs the bus and forgets to get their phone first....

[cellio]

I was imagining something like: phone goes into manilla envelope with student's name, box of envelopes goes to the principal's office for the day, collection becomes part of the dismissal process. But that last step requires staffing, yes. As for it being a chokepoint -- well, you only get caught in it if you tried to use your phone during class, so there's an obvious way to avoid that. :-)

I favor the faraday cage if it works, sure. Windows will be hard. Someone will probably find a way to hack around it. Belt and suspenders.

[conuly]

well, you only get caught in it if you tried to use your phone during class, so there's an obvious way to avoid that.

Don't get caught? Carry around lots of bribe money? Throw a tantrum?

[kengr]

See my reply to someone else for my thoughts on a solution.

One likely tactic to stop parents monitoring what is going on in the classroom is to inform them that they are violating the privacy of both the teachers and of the other students. Which is very much illegal.

While it wouldn't stop *some* parents it'd stop a fair number.

For the more determined ones, you'd need the cellphone spoofing gizmo and the reconfigured routers.