The best how to deal with cell phones in class with teachers and education leaders across the state, a boarding school officials of Western Massachusetts have taken a novel approach.
Two years ago, school leaders banned the use of smartphones on campus at Buxton School in Williamstown. The school also provided equipment with “dumb phones” to students and faculties with equipment, so calls from parents and all-school messages can still be received.
Buxton teachers say that disturbances inside and outside the classrooms prohibited, including a conflict between two students that were captured on the smartphone camera and the students’ dars were broadcast.
“We were trying to reach a lot of big goals as teachers were trying to reach students, not really landing,” said John Kalapos, a history teacher of Buxon.
“There will be a break in the classroom and the students will go down immediately and they will look at their phone,” they continued. “Teaching a class and really engaged in class, and suddenly, you listen to five ding because some group stops in chat and you have lost your class immediately.”
Kalapos said, “These are small moments that go away on the social taunts of a school.”
The students of Buxon did not initially take the news well.
“Everyone was like this,” Can they do so? Like, what about my right? “It was a negative response at first,” said Buxon Senior Iris Semon Pike. “Then we interacted with the faculty as to why it was happening and what was happening next. Everyone came all around and felt that it is a good thing.”
“During meals, I think [the change] The most visible, “said Owen Hinds, a senior Buxon, a Buxon. “Everyone just used to come down with their phone, had lunch and just scroll through something during meals. Now, you find yourself talking or sitting on the tables that you will never have before. Many people got out and met a lot of new people, rather than separating themselves or sticking to their original friends. ,
Smartphones can be banned, but Buxon does not have a total tech blackout.
“We still have Wi-Fi. We still have access to the Internet, and we are still very connected to the outside world, ”Semon Pike told NBC 10 Boston.
The movement to remove smartphones from classes is getting steam across the country.
An education department conducted in 2020 found that more than 75% of schools in the US had gone to ban non-educational use of equipment. Last year, Florida needed its public schools to ban the use of cellphones during the directive time and block the access of students on social media on district Wi-Fi.
Some education officers question the efficacy of such restrictions. A Massachusetts High School Principal, who spoke with NBC10 Boston, questioned whether cellphone restrictions are practical or also helpful for teenagers. In response to a recommendation of some teachers in the connectivity, the village Ned Lamont, to limit the use of cellphones in the schools of that state, there are benefits of having equipment in classes.
A teacher of Buxon Biology indicated a health benefit for students from the ban.
“Smartphones, like other things, create an addiction,” Linda Berlak said, which also acts as an academic dean. “You get the small buzz in your pocket, like notifications and dopamine hits that you get from scrolling and viewing references.”
“I mean, if you are addicted to cigarettes, and you were told, ‘You can’t smoke in the classroom, but in those five minutes in the middle of the classroom, you can smoke cigarettes,’ It’s not going to break the addiction,” she continued. “And if you say,” You can’t see your smartphone in the middle of the class except for five minutes, “Your brain is still looking for those dopamine hits.”
On its website, Buxon says that it has been training teachers in the principle and practice of progressive education for almost a century. Kalapos, in addition to serving as a history teacher, is also co-director of the school, believes that Buxon follows his educational philosophy through this ban.
“It is very ironic that to take a progressive step forward, we need to move a technical step backward,” he said. “Saying that we are not really going to invite all this to our community, this is really a progressive step.”