This was the policy at my school ~20 years ago. “Smartphones” didn’t exist, but mobile phones were ubiquitous and every kid owned one. But they weren’t allowed in the classroom, and if you were found to have one in the classroom (even if it was switched off in your pocket), it would immediately be confiscated and you wouldn’t get it back until at least the next day.
Why would any school not have this policy? What possible reason is there to allow phones in the classroom? How is this even a debate?
Confiscation until the next day could cause all sorts of problems. For example my daughter needs a smartphone app for bus tickets. It would be a lot more expensive to buy a single ticket to get home and I suppose (especially with younger kids) its going to be difficult to ensure they have the money to get home - or the phone might be their main means of payment.
People are dependent on smartphones to live day to day, in a way that they were not on simple mobile phones.
I don’t know of any public transit that has a mobile app as the only way to prove purchase of some pass, they all have a physical card you can obtain. Maybe yours doesn’t, but I doubt it.
it would be OK in our case, but lots of kids live too far away to walk. Not everyone has a car.
it was also an example of how hard it is to do without it. My daughter is old enough not to need those rules and at this point (and at a sixth form college: a school that only takes kids 16+) I do not think such rules are needed.
For a more real example one parent told me of their low income family free travel to school that required a mobile app, but the school banned kids from even taking phones in.
Yes, that is called a punishment. And parents have to pick up if a kid misbehaves like that. That is a parental responsibility not a childs.
No, these rules are needed like all rules in life. Don't just chop change and choose because 'you know better'. Society doesn't fundamentally function that way at your whym be you on top or the bottom. Obviously the real world bends to huge piles of cash but I doubt your kids are bribing the teachers here in this example...
So the low income family needs free travel via app. That's nonsense, no council in the UK is running something that increases the digital divide. They may offer it as a convenience via app but it's that. A CONVENIENCE. Especially where kids travel is involved, it's almost always a photographic travel id. Although there are a few that issue ones without photos.
Again if you break a rule you have your convenience taken away from you.
Why would any school not have this policy? What possible reason is there to allow phones in the classroom? How is this even a debate?