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France bans smartphone use in schools

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Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#111

Post by Molaxx »

chpmrc wrote: post #10
swiley wrote: post #7

I'm really not sure how I feel about highschoolers having phones. On the one hand, not having one seems like it could cause isolation and practical/logistical problems. On the other hand, the whole point of most of the smartphone ecosystem is to manipulate people and these people are especially prone to that. Highschoolers therefore should be only allowed to use completely free (as in freedom) community maintained so…

How about educating kids on the proper use of such powerful tools, including the concepts of FLOSS (and, in general, how to question and think critically)? TV is not the problem, having more kids watching Jersey Shore rather than some good documentaries is.

It's hard, these apps are built by a huge amount of people to maximize attention hogging and addiction. Fighting addiction without going cold turkey is nearly impossible. Awareness usually doesn't help. Further more, it is hard teaching people to think critically while their faces are stuck to their phone.

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#112

Post by xexers »

Daishiman wrote: post #86
weliketocode wrote: post #51

Like much of education policy, this seems to help some at the expense of harming others. For the intelligent & motivated, there will be unnecessary boredom during downtime/study hall, potential hatred for learning/school, and other negative effects. For the lackluster students, this policy will help some pay attention to class, learn lessons, and complete work. In general, however, I'd have to say I'm against it. Any…

> For the intelligent & motivated, there will be unnecessary boredom during downtime/study hall, potential hatred for learning/school, and other negative effects. Boredom is a fact of life, and learning to accept it without forcing yourself to depend on a smartphone is an underrated skill. > Any widespread banning of freedoms or ignorance of new technologies will have outsized negative consequences. This argument doe…

> Boredom is a fact of life, and learning to accept it without forcing yourself to depend on a smartphone is an underrated skill.

There is a whole book on that topic:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VTZYPTF

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#113

Post by gonehome »

Pulcinella wrote: post #43

My thoughts as a High School teacher: I have tried[1] to allow students to have their phones, teach them to use their phones responsibly, etc. It doesn’t work. They are banned in my class. I’m just a single teacher with basically no budget. I can’t compete with giant corporations that spend millions on design, UX, UI, etc. [1] Also, technically trying to teach kids to use their phones responsibly (or even generically…

When I was a student I didn't care about the ban in class - seemed reasonable to me and generally fair.

The rules that bothered me were the ones I thought were unfair or didn't make sense - not being able to use the phone in the hallway or between classes to call a parent/organize something later in the day. We had teachers that would grab it out of your hand and take it from you.

Our school also had an 'upstairway' and a 'downstairway' though where you'd get yelled out for going down the upstair way and have to lap the building to get to the downstairway though so they weren't really about reason.

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#115

Post by magnetic »

gonehome wrote: post #113
Pulcinella wrote: post #43

My thoughts as a High School teacher: I have tried[1] to allow students to have their phones, teach them to use their phones responsibly, etc. It doesn’t work. They are banned in my class. I’m just a single teacher with basically no budget. I can’t compete with giant corporations that spend millions on design, UX, UI, etc. [1] Also, technically trying to teach kids to use their phones responsibly (or even generically…

When I was a student I didn't care about the ban in class - seemed reasonable to me and generally fair. The rules that bothered me were the ones I thought were unfair or didn't make sense - not being able to use the phone in the hallway or between classes to call a parent/organize something later in the day. We had teachers that would grab it out of your hand and take it from you. Our school also had an 'upstairway'…

> Our school also had an 'upstairway' and a 'downstairway' though where you'd get yelled out for going down the upstair way and have to lap the building to get to the downstairway though so they weren't really about reason.

It may seem like no reason to you, but I've witnessed a much higher flow of people when the direction is set and nobody goes "against the current".

This is one mistake I made the first time I went to Japan: I was going "against the current" at the train station and clueless me was wondering why it was taking so much effort for me to make progress...

Even entrances to some public bathrooms now have a divider that splits people entering from people exiting (you can see this at airports sometimes).

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#117

Post by gonehome »

magnetic wrote: post #115
gonehome wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a student I didn't care about the ban in class - seemed reasonable to me and generally fair. The rules that bothered me were the ones I thought were unfair or didn't make sense - not being able to use the phone in the hallway or between classes to call a parent/organize something later in the day. We had teachers that would grab it out of your hand and take it from you. Our school also had an 'upstairway'…

> Our school also had an 'upstairway' and a 'downstairway' though where you'd get yelled out for going down the upstair way and have to lap the building to get to the downstairway though so they weren't really about reason. It may seem like no reason to you, but I've witnessed a much higher flow of people when the direction is set and nobody goes "against the current". This is one mistake I made the first time I went…

Yeah but when you have 3min to get to your next class (or you get detention), you can't run, hallways are crowded, and you have to walk across the building to get to your class that's right downstairs it feels a bit kafkaesque.

We also weren't allowed to talk during lunch for half of it.

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#118

Post by bambax »

weliketocode wrote: post #51

Like much of education policy, this seems to help some at the expense of harming others. For the intelligent & motivated, there will be unnecessary boredom during downtime/study hall, potential hatred for learning/school, and other negative effects. For the lackluster students, this policy will help some pay attention to class, learn lessons, and complete work. In general, however, I'd have to say I'm against it. Any…

School is not about "freedoms". The point is to learn.

The French education system has many problems, but this isn't one of them.

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#119

Post by themagician »

pwaivers wrote: post #4

> “In reality, the ban has already been made. I don’t know a single teacher in this country that allows the use of phones in class.” Not allowing kids to use smartphones during class is a huge difference than not allowing them at all in school. Cell phones are huge part of people's lives, whether they like it or not.

They don’t have to be a big part of your life. Let the battery die on Friday night and don’t pick it up again until Monday morning. You might be surprised how you spend your time and how much more of it you appear to have.

Re: France bans smartphone use in schools

#120

Post by bambax »

DeBraid wrote: post #6

> The measure prohibits the use of tablets, computers, and other internet-connected devices as well. Ban phones, sure, but no computers? Bring back the typewriter?

There are no computers in class in French schools AFAIK; there are computer classes but in normal class everyone takes notes on paper. I sure hope it stays this way for as long as possible.
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