A School's Way To Fight Phones In Class: Lock 'Em Up

[Cattledog]

Any teacher will tell you, class has never been the same since kids started coming to school with cellphones. Ancient Roman history will pretty much never win the day when competing with Snapchat and Instagram.

And sneaky as kids think they are, teachers know exactly what's going on when students look up with those zombie stares and constantly ask: "Can you say that again?"

"You can see that they're not listening to you," says history teacher Tony Patelis, at Newton North High School in Massachusetts. "They're looking down, and they tell me they're checking the time, even though the clock is on the wall."

Patelis says he's got a reputation as a "psycho about cellphones," constantly confiscating them from kids in class. "It's so ingrained," he says. "The kids say 'Forgive me, Mr. P. I can't help myself.' "

It's a daily battle, he sighs, and teachers are losing.

But now, exasperated teachers at hundreds of schools around the nation have another weapon in their arsenal.

At the City on a Hill Circuit Street charter school in Boston, students entering school in the morning are met by administrators fanned out at the front door with their hands out. One by one, they take students' phones, slip them into a soft pouch, and lock them closed with a snap that works like the security tags you find on clothing at department stores. Students take their pouched phones back, but can only unlock them with a special device at dismissal time, nearly eight hours later.

"It sucks," grumbles freshman Toninho Emanuel, echoing the sentiment of many here.

"It's aggravating," says sophomore Tyler Martin. "It's just like your toy and they take it from you and you can't use it." But in the next breath, Martin jumps off the toy analogy and says his phone is actually a necessity. "Like glasses," he says.

Full article at:

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/11/577101803/a-schools-way-to-fight-phones-in-class-lock-em-up?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180111