It's not just that cell phone use is prohibited; it's that student know that there will be consequences if they break the rules. At my wife's last school, there was no discipline; students regularly mouthed off to teachers, and there were multiple fights every day--often involving the same students. They knew nothing was going to happen.I'll give one solution that my sons HS has implemented this year that has paid HUGE dividends. Beginning this school year our school district has banned all cell phones during school hours. You can have your phone on you but it better not be out. The consequences for having it out are severe.
Is anybody interested in the short-term results of only one month of school? The fights on the middle school and HS level have dropped by 80% compared to year over year for the same time frame. That's right, 80%. These kids live in a perpetual digital world that they never unplug from and the result is 100 times the social stress that comes along with being a teen. It's amazing that removing just that component has made that type of positive difference on our campuses.
At her new school, there are consequences to breaking the rules. The principle is upfront about them and doesn't hesitate to enforce them. There have only been a couple of fights this fall.
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