With the start of the new year, Paideia has enforced their phone policy more rigorously. While Paideia has typically remained more relaxed on these kinds of policies, this year they have decided to tighten the rules on no phones in class.
Many teachers have now started making their students put their phones in a phone pouch at the start of class. While this policy can help prevent students from being distracted by their phones, some students and teachers also have the concern of possibly leaving their phones in class due to this rule.
“While I don’t allow students to have their phone out during class, I don’t collect phones due to the fear that students will forget their phone in the classroom,” says social studies teacher Cullen Sacha. While schools such as Decatur High School are enacting a strict no-phone policy for the entire school day, Paideia has normally not followed suit with enforcing these types of policies.
Many of these policies have been influenced by the book “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt, which argues that phones are causing extra anxiety and stress in teenagers. The book suggests several solutions to this problem, one of which is schools banning phones completely. Many schools around the country have listened to this advice and enacted a no phones policy. However, this policy could also be circumvented by students pretty easily, which could cause teachers difficulty in enforcing the policy. Overall, each teacher has a slightly different policy in their class, meaning students will have different experiences with this policy over the course of the school year.
