r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TheAeroplaneBear2906 • Jul 16 '26

Unskippable ad Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

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My freinds school is now requiring these items, and is also using AI to promote this šŸ« 

17.9k Upvotes

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847

u/everythingwastakn Jul 16 '26

I get it

Butā€¦ as a teacher in a high school Yondr pouches would be so awesome (or just having a school district that mandates zero phone use in school but thatā€™s hard I guess)

766

u/passisgullible Jul 16 '26

So student here who had them. The kids who want to use their phones still do, they either put a dummy phone in or literally just use their hands to rip open the case (it gets easier over time) and relock before a teacher sees. The only thing it stopped is good kids from occasionally checking notifications

101

u/No-Grade-4691 Jul 16 '26

All they needed was a magnet to unlock it lol

62

u/-Supposably- Jul 16 '26

Yeah but those are a finite resource and scientists need all the magnets they can get so they can figure out how they work

13

u/dividezero Jul 16 '26

And they don't work underwater so you have that problem as well

3

u/JapeTheNeckGuy2 Jul 16 '26

They missed that part in physics cause they were on their phone

1

u/LastLibrary9508 Jul 16 '26

You need a special magnet to open them and it makes a loud sound and is pretty obvious

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110

u/N0ct1ve Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

As a fellow student who is currently in his senior year im gonna be frank but these are nothing but a waste of school funds. Absolutely no student in this school actually likes them. I personally just donā€™t respect the admins for even green lighting these. I usually followed the rules previously but I just donā€™t see the point because these pouches moreso punish me for following the rulesbecause the kids itā€™s targeting are still going to be on them lol.

53

u/Takeguru Jul 16 '26

The problem is that it's not even school funds at that point, it's parents having to pay for the fucking bags

26

u/N0ct1ve Jul 16 '26

Well in my case itā€™s the school funds and a whole lot are being used for these stupid pouches i dont see why that couldnā€™t have been used to help the teachers out financially or clean the bathrooms with -1 ply toilet paper that i could probably do a better job cleaning my ass with my hands.

5

u/Far-Conflict-1172 Jul 16 '26

Our district spent half a mil on this shit that no one uses. There definitely could have been better uses for the funds.

82

u/10000Didgeridoos Jul 16 '26

Same as every rule ever. Smart kids break it and get away with it. Dumb kids get caught. Rule followers who probably weren't a problem to begin with are the only ones following it.

4

u/Far-Conflict-1172 Jul 16 '26

Nah my son is honors ap and never been in trouble for his phone or anything tbh. He tucks his phone in his waistband because it's a bullshit rule. I support it, fuck use the money to make sure the kids are all getting fed before this.

25

u/jeffreysusann Jul 16 '26

Theyā€™re not for the students to like. Lol

18

u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan Jul 16 '26

As a fellow student who is currently in his senior year im gonna be frank but these are nothing but a waste of school funds. Absolutely no student in this school actually likes them.

Do people other that the students like them? I don't think the addicts like being in rehab either

29

u/NewestAccount2023 Jul 16 '26

If we did only what students liked then kids would be learning even less than now

11

u/anonymous_identifier Jul 16 '26

Another thread said the point is that it enables zero tolerance for seeing a phone at all. The only way it could be seen is if you didn't lock it, so therefore you must be breaking rules if it's seen at all. Simple.

Vs other No Phones Allowed policies leave the door open for "it just fell out of my bag and I was putting it back, I wasn't using it!" You can say it's zero tolerance and you get in trouble for that case too.. but it's tougher to get every teacher to enforce because it honestly could just fall out of your bag. So is it an excuse or the truth? The yonder bag turns this grey into back and white.

Do you not see it working this way in practice?

4

u/Cudi_buddy Jul 16 '26

Feel like students not liking them is not a bad thing? Addicts donā€™t like their shit taken away. Shocking

24

u/tenthousandants44 Jul 16 '26

Taking your phone away is not a punishment

2

u/brainparts Jul 16 '26

Don't worry. The kids on their phones instead of using their brains are punishing themselves. You should soak up every moment you have of more knowledgeable people genuinely caring about how well you learn. Functioning without phone addiction will serve you well.

154

u/Pitiful-Pension-6535 Jul 16 '26

Sounds like school staff need to start actually enforcing policy. Our school district has competent staff and they handle it really well.

46

u/carpentizzle Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

I worked at a private school before my current spot and they went through a 3 year run where:

Year 1- Phones werenā€™t supposed to be out, but there wasnā€™t much of a real emphasis on restricting them. In fact, most study halls would allow them to be out for music etc. End of year we had a pep rally where there was a quiz game that required you to log in using the code they projected. But they were cheap and didnā€™t buy the full subscription or whatever so only the first 50 kids got in, every single one of them were on phones. The kids all had chromebooks, but the ones trying on there couldnā€™t get them out fast enough. Admin got a little testy and made the game get played a second time but only kids on chromebooks could participate. Several with phones still snuck in. Kids will be kids.

Year 2- They came in hot. No phones at all. Students AND Staff. No excuses. If, as an adult, you needed to make any sort of phone exchange, you had to get coverage for your spot (duh) but then fully leave the building. Annoying, but manageable, more annoying in the rain/snow because it probably meant a full jaunt to the car. The kids were LIVID. It was a whole thing alll year. Phones still made it in, and the less tactful got caught with them pretty regularly. We had multiple reminder announcements and even a schoolwide assembly reminding everyone that there are NO PHONES ALLOWED. It is amazing how many smart watches started springing upā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ The end of year pep rally had minute to win it games rather than anything tech related, felt like pointedly. More fun in MY opinion, but limited in the number of kids who can play. But it got kids excited, so goal achieved.

Year 3- It was like admin not only forgot they had a rule about it, but were now being actively paid to encourage phone use. They switched to a full reliance on using the GoogleClassroon Calendars for homework planners, and encouraged teachers to make QR codes and post them so kids could scan and see what was up without having to navigate to the right place (which is a bit laughable if youve ever used the Calendar, its pretty easy/intuitive to use and navigate to) but about half of the chromebooks the kids had were cameraless (first wave was the cheaper ā€œprove its worth itā€ purchase, the second wave was the next step up with cameras) so the teachers were told to have the kids scan with their phones and use the schedule that way. They came out with a ā€œSchool Spirit Appā€ (that was really a website that they had student leadership kids teach others how to bookmark on their homescreens so it LOOKED like an app. And then they only referred to it as ā€œthe spirit appā€. ā€¦. Yeah.). Then the ā€œDJā€ for homecoming was one of the teachers, who had a playlist set up with a QR code so the kids could drop requests there, then he could look at them before he switched them into his actual list (which honestly was kind of a great idea imo). But that was obviously purely by phone. Then the end of year pep rally was literally two Student Leaderā€™s phones being screen shared onto projectors while kids were called up to 1v1 each other (one game and two kids on each phone separately) on the ā€œTwo Player Gamesā€ app

The principal and guidance counselor even got in for a round.

Private schools are weeiiirrdddd

144

u/Infinitiscarf Jul 16 '26

Right bc our schools are so well funded and havenā€™t been steadily defunded over decades while we pump money into prisons and war insteadā€¦. šŸ™„šŸ™„šŸ™„

43

u/BKlounge93 Jul 16 '26

I mean I went to an underfunded high school years ago. You get caught on your phone, teacher takes it away. Happens more than once or twice, your parents get a call. Idk why itā€™s so hard.

35

u/Humble-Cook-6126 Jul 16 '26

I dont think the parents care or agree anymore.

5

u/iTzGiR Jul 16 '26

Ding ding ding. This is the correct answer. As someone who works in the school, this is the real problem. Without a legitimate policy in place like this, parents will go ballistic, because ā€œyou canā€™t take MY kids phoneā€, and will try to go after the teacher, with admin usually caving.

Policies like this allow teachers/staff to just point to a school wide policy and ignore the headaches this kind of interaction causes. Parents will almost ALWAYS back up their kids on this stuff, and thereā€™s no real accountability or real change because of it.

Ontop of this, teachers are there to teach, not to constantly be be babysitting 25+ kids and constantly stopping things to check on phone use/taking then away and the argument it always causes.

It would be fantastic if this DIDNT need to happen, and all the kids could just be responsible, and then if they didnā€™t, then a quick call to the parents would sort things out. But unfortunately thatā€™s not the world we live in, and the kids, and more importantly their parents, would rather argue, fight and threaten lawsuits, then actually care about what a teacher has to say.

-4

u/atuck217 Jul 16 '26

As a parent, though admittedly my child is currently too young to have a phone, I would be pissed about the pouches. You are the adult in the situation and teaching them discipline is part of the job. If they pull out their phone at an inappropriate time, you tell them to put it away as a warning. They do it again, you confiscate it and tell the parents.

If my child has an emergency or even just wants to send me a text in the middle of the day at an appropriate time like between classes or something, they should not have to deal with the pouch.

I'd be protesting this if it was at my childs school.

10

u/killershwee Jul 16 '26

Teachers cannot effectively teach that discipline to 30 kids when the parents refuse to reinforce that discipline to their one kid at home. In a class of 25-30 kids, a solid chunk of them are quite literally addicted to their phones/screens. So am I supposed to teach literature, or manage a room full of addicts? Because I can't do both.

12

u/zecfrid Jul 16 '26

A teachers job is not to teach a child discipline if they are old enough to have a phone. The problem is the majority of children have no discipline. There is no emergency that a student canā€™t use a teacherā€™s desk phone or office phone for.

5

u/Humble-Cook-6126 Jul 16 '26

I see your point. And this is how I'll raise my kids as well.

I just think we're in the minority. Schools aren't doing this because this novel new technology was just introduced. This is their solution to a problem that hasnt been solvable for sometime due to lack of support/pushback from parents.

3

u/NashvilleFlagMan Jul 16 '26

You and parents like you are actively holding back the school system.

5

u/rnason Jul 16 '26

If your high school age kid lacks discipline thatā€™s on you as a parent

3

u/YUNoJump Jul 16 '26

You have a point, but also the reality is that kids are always gonna misbehave to some degree, and dealing with that wastes a lot of teacher time. Their primary job is to teach a lesson, and support students in learning it. If it takes time to discipline kids or deal with distractions like phones, that means less time the teacher has to actually teach things.

The pouches mean that if a phone is seen at all, the teacher can instantly say "you're doing the wrong thing" and send the kid to admin or whatever, minimal class disruption. If your kid needs to communicate with you, then the school has ways to contact you. With no pouches, it becomes a lot easier for a kid to waste time arguing; "it just fell out of my pocket/bag", "I was just turning it off", etc etc.

It'd be great if kids just did the right thing and teachers didn't have to worry about discipline, but that's hard to achieve. In the meantime, systems that minimise disruptions mean that kids can get a better education.

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u/pooppaysthebills Jul 16 '26

The entire school day is an inappropriate time.

0

u/atuck217 Jul 16 '26

What are we 5? No it's not. There is nuance to things. My kid is sick or not feeling well and they take a second between their classes to tell me they are feeling okay/worse? Completely appropriate.

My daughter calls me privately from the girls room because she needs feminine hygiene products for the first time? Completely appropriate.

The point of not allowing phones in school is so they are not a distraction to the child or others during times of learning or otherwise. Not to just ban them from being able to communicate no matter what.

11

u/killershwee Jul 16 '26

There is a phone in the front office for that, and the guidance counselor/nurse/most women teachers/a friend will have feminine hygiene products for your child. They don't need a cell phone for that.

2

u/YUNoJump Jul 16 '26

Issues like that can be handled by the school, including contacting you. Plus school staff are much more available than parents, who might be at work or a long drive away or some such.

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1

u/DiamondDepth_YT Jul 16 '26

Problem is the parents didn't care. And it happened so much the teachers didn't care/weren't paid enough to deal with it.

I went to a Title 1 high school.

1

u/Infinitiscarf Jul 16 '26

Schools are currently less funded than they were years ago. Thatā€™s what ā€œsteadily defundingā€ means.

15

u/AlreadyAway Jul 16 '26

What you said, while true, doesn't mean you have to spend money to hold students accountable.

29

u/MyLastAcctWasBetter Jul 16 '26

Right but teachers donā€™t have the resources to reliably enforce these rules. Phones are like drugsā€” sure, with a lot of active supervision, schools could enforce restrictions. But nearly all schools are woefully underfundedā€” and teachers have been exceedingly overstretched beyond capacity. Now youā€™re expecting them to decently educate students who barely have basic literacy and almost zero attention spans while also enforcing stric phone restrictions against kids who FIEND for the use.

Every time I see posts about the US education system, I feel such relief about quitting my teaching job and going to law school. Itā€™s depressing, but that shit is broken and you guys suck for imposing unrealistic expectations , criticizing, and cutting funding. You all got what youā€™re willing to pay for.

1

u/MissElision Jul 16 '26

I've been working at underfunded schools the past two years with a strict no cellphone policy and no fancy pouches. I see it, I take it, and your guardian picks it up end of day. It really is super simple when everyone is on the same page and enforces it. One of the schools was high school with a decent amount of violence, the other schools were 5-8 and very low achieving. I took maybe ten phones over the past two years?

1

u/myco_magic Jul 16 '26

So we get more staff but don't pay them? Sounds like slavery

1

u/AlreadyAway Jul 16 '26

.... who said hire more people? How about not bending to every parent and just having a spine.

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1

u/Alypius754 Jul 16 '26

Or consider that our educational spending, second only to Norway, is actually a system for graft with highly paid supers and ā€œconsultantsā€. Maybe restructure the system (without NEA involvement) and see what happens.

1

u/Jawyp Jul 16 '26

Education spending per student has consistently increased for decades. What are you talking about?

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-5

u/SolitaryMassacre Jul 16 '26

School staff need to stop treating their students like robots/machines that need to obey specific code in order to be able to function.

School staff need to stop thinking the only thing that matters are test scores.

School staff need to stop controlling their teachers, fund them adequately, so school can be more focused about learning.

Then, once that happens, students won't even care to be on their phones. Worried so much about the wrong, useless thing

6

u/MyLastAcctWasBetter Jul 16 '26

Bro. Itā€™s not school staff that cares about any of that shitā€¦ or it is, but not because they personally care or want to do those things. Literally every problem you listed is due to the STATE. States fund public schools impose the curriculum standards and testing that literally EVERYONE hates. If you want to see change, complaining about school staff wonā€™t get you anywhere. They hate it as much as you do.

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u/TheSmokingLamp Jul 16 '26

I feel like theyd rather get kickbacks from these little cottage industry companies than actually preventing the problem

2

u/Tacomathrowaway15 Jul 16 '26

Hey! Teachers don't get kickbacks. Admin do. Blame admin. They're also the ones not backing up the teachers trying to get kids to put away their phones.

2

u/TheSmokingLamp Jul 16 '26

My comment was entirely directed towards administrators and not the teachers. Sorry if it was worded weirdly.

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u/Bardmedicine Jul 16 '26

You simply have staff that choose not to enforce. What you're talking about would fail often enough to make it not worth doing.

2

u/ReggieCorneus Jul 16 '26

Just because SOME will break the rules does not mean the rules is stupid.

Kids should not have phones in schools. And anything that makes it harder is good. And parents should after school limit your screen time. That is, if you want kids to grow up healthy and not fucked up.

3

u/Pernicious_Possum Jul 16 '26

Thereā€™s no reason kids need to check notifications. Not a single one. If thereā€™s an emergency, contact the school

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u/Top_Designer2502 Jul 16 '26

When I was in high school, me and many of my friends/peers had multiple cellphones as a result of a friend knowing how to fix broken phones, then sell them for profit which made a mini market of sorts. The Yondr pouch shit would have been neutralized in my high school on the first day, lmao

1

u/vi_sucks Jul 16 '26

They know.

The pouches aren't really to stop the kids. They're a compromise to satisfy the parents who whine about their kid not being able to have their phone.

1

u/LastLibrary9508 Jul 16 '26

I love them because it keeps 75% of phones away from the classroom. Of course students will still use them but they get their phone taken away if it is out and caught. If I donā€™t catch it, you can keep your phone because props for being so clever.

We make ours only $10 but require you to buy a new one for $20 if you rip or damage yours. Most students realize the $20 isnā€™t worth it and give up. Itā€™s been great not to have kids have the ability to record in the classroom, so Iā€™m 100% on board

1

u/Hanifsefu Jul 16 '26

That's a fallacy. No perfect solution to anything outside of arithmetic exists. Using the fact that it's possible for bad actors to circumvent a system is not a real argument against it.

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u/Lonely-Ad1179 Jul 16 '26

My kids schools implemented a zero phone policy last year and overall I think it has gone pretty well (they have to be powered off during the school day). If they are caught using it, it gets sent to the office and they can pick it up at the end of the day. After three strikes a parent has to pick it up šŸ˜…. If parents want to contact kids during the day they have to call the office to pass on the message.

The idea that kids have to pay to have their phones at school, or else leave them at home sounds super unfair. Especially with the amount of school violence, or even just family logistics I wouldnā€™t want my kid not having a way to contact me.

53

u/FutureFreaksMeowt Aqua Tofana save us from these fuckass men Jul 16 '26

Yeah the pay to play thing is incredibly classist. A lot of parents can't afford the basic supply list, now you're requiring a fee to bring a phone, and clear backpacks? I don't think kids really need their phones in school at all, especially since we did just fine without hen for decades before, but implementing fee is just enforcing the idea that you need money to ensure equal access, and that's capitalistic garbage thinking,

3

u/killershwee Jul 16 '26

I work in a school in a low income area and any time we have to require students to buy something like a clear backpack, there are always waivers and letters going home within the first week of school so that students who can't afford it have free options. I would be willing to bet this school has the same alternatives.

7

u/mizinamo mildly infuriated Jul 16 '26

Opt-out is still problematic because what if your crackhead dead doesn't read anything the school sends home or the mother was brought up to be too proud to request assistance.

Less friction if it's just free for everyone. (Like it would be with school lunches.)

1

u/killershwee Jul 16 '26

I agree that things would be much better if they were free for everyone. There's no perfect solution, and oftentimes these decisions get made at the district level by people who haven't been in a classroom in years, if they ever worked in one at all, and school admin/teachers just have to try and make it work.

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u/ImaginaryAlpaca Jul 16 '26

My son is a latchkey kid because I am a single parent and I work second shift. My son having his phone is not optional because if he gets locked out, I won't be home until close to midnight. But it's not one of the listed exceptions for the new policy our school is implementing this year. He doesn't need to take it out during they day, but they surely cannot have me pick it up for him at any point. That's what schools did when I was in high school and the phones in class thing was a brand new problem. I think I am going to have to email someone and make 100% sure he can have his phone at the end of the day, even if it's taken from him. Keeping it overnight is unacceptable. But I know that this is extremely rare now, having a latch key kid. Circumstances outside of my control unfortunately, second shift jobs are in abundance and first shift jobs I qualify for don't pay well enough.

3

u/Effective_Moose_4997 Jul 16 '26

Isn't part of being a latchkey kid having house keys? I walked home from school as a kid while my parent worked. I was given house keys. And this was during the cell phone era.

1

u/ImaginaryAlpaca Jul 16 '26

Yeah, my son does have keys. He's also young and things get lost. But for my situation, if I got locked out, it was usually an accident unless my mom was kicking us out of the house for the afternoon. But the house is old and the keys get stuck sometimes, he might lose them, etc. He's been locked out before by accident/mechanical failure and had to call and have someone come let him in.

1

u/etcpt Jul 16 '26

It's wild how this new phenomenon of latchkey kids can only exist in a world with cell phones. Sociologists must be salivating at the thought of studying the emergence of such a new phenomenon. /s

10

u/ImaginaryAlpaca Jul 16 '26

When I was a kid if I got locked out I just was stuck outside. My kid should totally be hanging out outside by himself until midnight. You're right, how could I possibly think it mandatory that he be safe and indoors after nightfall in an area where three men and their dog have taken up residence in the parking lot outside my back door.

2

u/Effective_Moose_4997 Jul 16 '26

Why weren't you given house keys? I always had house keys so there was no locking out to be had.

1

u/ImaginaryAlpaca Jul 16 '26

Accidents happen. But also my mom was young, and kicked me out of the house until dark still even though it was far less common at the time.

3

u/etcpt Jul 16 '26

Well, your irresponsible parents clearly didn't set you up for success so my sarcastic hinting isn't helping, that's fair. What I was getting at is that there are ways to get your kid in the house that don't require a cell phone. You can keep a spare key somewhere, or your kid can use a trusted neighbor's phone to call you, just to name two. Heck, if your kid recognizes they've lost their key while at school they can use the office phone to call you. There have been latchkey kids for decades if not centuries before the invention of cell phones and not all of them were left outside until their parents got home, a cell phone is not the only option. Most convenient, sure, but not sole.

3

u/syrvyx Jul 16 '26

The objective isn't for the kid to learn critical thinking, problem solving, or self reliance. It's just for the parent to be slightly more hands off than the "lawnmower parents", not realizing they're still a helicopter parent.

5

u/aspie_electrician Jul 16 '26

Iā€™d like to see that play out, where a student has diabetes and uses their phone as their glucose meter or other medical device and itā€™s listed in their IEPā€¦

7

u/commandant_ Jul 16 '26

Obviously medical exceptions can be made. The fact a handful of kids need their phone for medical needs doesnā€™t make it impossible to enforce it for everyone else.

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u/Niknot3556 Jul 16 '26

Then they can use it? People listing gotchas as if there was zero thought put into it.

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u/ChiGorilla1127 Jul 16 '26

Family logistics were managed without phones for a very long time with kids at school. I think that's a lazy argument from parents. Is the occasional I am picking you up today instead of you taking the bus worth your kids attention to his teachers what they're learning during class?

1

u/Lonely-Ad1179 Jul 16 '26

Leaving phones at home is unnecessary when they can easily be powered off and put in lockers, etc. I agree it is wild to have phones in the classroom, but pretending like the social context is the exact same as 30 years ago is equally naive. There are no pay phones, there are no phones in housesā€¦ my 12 year old Nextdoor neighbour regularly knocked on my door and asks to use my cellphone because her friend had walked home with her from school and they have no way to contact the girls parents because there is no phone in the house when parents arenā€™t home.

Even 25 years ago when I was in high school we had a family cellphone that we would bring when we knew there were after school logistics that required communication.

Kids are using chrome books for like 1/4 of the day ajd they all just send emails to each other constantly instead of passing notes or whatever. They are distracted with or without phones, just as we were as kids in school.

8

u/Darkgamer000 Jul 16 '26

If youā€™re in a school that needs clear backpacks, school safety clearly is an issue and thatā€™s the entire purpose of sending your kid to school with a phone. Itā€™s there for the unthinkable.

1

u/Niknot3556 Jul 16 '26

And? They donā€™t need it out.

1

u/Darkgamer000 Jul 16 '26

They donā€™t need it locked in a mechanism where they canā€™t access their phone in an emergency, it defeats the purpose. Nobody is arguing they need their phones out in class, nor passing or lunch. Itā€™s for emergencies.

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u/424f42_424f42 Jul 16 '26

That was the rules 20 years ago. But no 3 strikes, just straight to parent pick up

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 Jul 16 '26

My kid put a dead phone in the pouch but kept hers away in her backpack. Same result though, no phone in classĀ Ā 

9

u/RugbyEdd Jul 16 '26

It worked then. I don't think the point was to fill pouches with phones, the point was to stop kids being on their phones in class and give teachers the clear excuse they needed with plenty of warning to confiscate phones, since it was getting out of hand and parents where pushing back at the idea of phones being confiscated or out right banned.

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u/Miserable-Rabbit-948 Jul 16 '26

Well now the backpacks are clear so they can see the phone šŸ¤£

43

u/Emergency_Elephant Jul 16 '26

Pockets aren't

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u/cl0udmaster Jul 16 '26

They will be soon enough. No stone unturned in the pursuit of total mindless obedience safety

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 Jul 16 '26

Yeah because pencil bags, shirts, socks, aren't a thingĀ Ā 

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u/KanMDJD Jul 16 '26

What punishment did you give your kid for their attempt to circumvent the policy?

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 Jul 16 '26

I don't. The point of the policy is that phones are not taking out during school. My child does not take her phone out during school.Ā 

This whole pouch thing is just a gimmick some company thought up. None of that is neededĀ Ā 

3

u/KanMDJD Jul 16 '26

If your kid puts a dead phone in a pouch and hides a real phone, and you think that the phone is not taken out of hiding and used impermissibly, then I have lakeside real estate in the Sahara to sell you. If the real phone was not going to be used impermissibly, then there would be no reason to have a dead phone in the pouch at all; the real phone could go in the pouch, since it is not going to be used impermissibly. The very existence of a scheme to hide the real phone while having a dead decoy phone to put in the pouch is a solution in search of a problem unless you/your child see it as a problem that they are NOT allowed to use their phone impermissibly.

Be a better parent.

3

u/Jolly_Ad2446 Jul 16 '26

You sound the type of person no one wants to see on a holiday.Ā 

The school policy is if you see it we take it. What the f*** is the difference If it's in that pouch that some corporation is making or it's locked away in a backpack?Ā 

If they see it they take it.Ā 

12

u/KanMDJD Jul 16 '26

Again, the whole point is that your childā€™s phone is NOT locked away in their backpack or hidden somewhere. There would be zero reason for your child to even want to find a way around this policy unless they intended to violate it.

This thread is full of educators telling parents that their children are absolutely failing to live up to their potential, are falling behind their international peers far more than ever before, and are, quite frankly, dumber than all previous generations. Even the students getting good grades are doing so on achievement metrics that would have been ā€˜Cā€™ work 30 years ago. You can visit the ā€œTeachersā€ subreddit to see story after story about how huge portions of students today cannot read, do basic math, or understand the world around them. You can read about how they cannot form basic plans without kindergarten-level handholding, will stare blankly at an assignment on their desk for twenty minutes instead of starting the work, because they donā€™t know what a word means, or will ignore instructions just to turn around and ask what to do. You can see professors stating that virtually all of their incoming freshmen need remedial non-credit courses in order to be ready for college, which is a new phenomenon, with most students being around what used to be deemed a middle-school level of education. They blame a lot of things, but phones are pretty high on that list.

In this thread, you also see parents and students defending the idea that they do not need to follow directions, follow policies, or listen to the directions their schools provide. They demand access to the continual dopamine drip technology that is destroying a generationā€™s ability to even focus or concentrate long enough to read an article, let alone lessons or books. Did you know many schools have had to cut reading books in English classes, so that now they read abridged stories, or even just excerpts? These kids are marching into Idiocracy, and instead of holding standards in order to try to impose any semblance of success for their own future, these parents and students are demanding their right to be the first generation literally dumber than their parents.

They lie to you and tell you they wonā€™t use the phone, but if that was accurate, they could leave it at home or put it in a pouch. That they will not has only one reason - they want access to the thing rotting their memory, attention span, ability to learn, and ability to process information. Go ahead and champion the dumbing of your own kid. Nobody can stop you, certainly.

1

u/Jolly_Ad2446 Jul 16 '26

Nobody is reading that. Have a nice day.

6

u/ingodwetryst Jul 16 '26

I read it, and ironically your comment just proves their point.

-3

u/homonculus_prime Jul 16 '26

Jesus, you sound insufferable and you have no clue what the fuck you are talking about. You sound like a bootlicker.

I'm a great parent and I'd give my kid a dummy phone for this purpose. I can think of all sorts of reasons I dont want my kid having to go to a teacher to unlock their phone in case they need to contact me.

12

u/KanMDJD Jul 16 '26

If you actively would help your child violate school policy because you think you know better, then, no, you are not being a good parent. You are being a parent who teaches your child that rules are only for those who want to follow them.

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u/Iggyhopper Jul 16 '26

A high five.

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7

u/DothrakAndRoll Jul 16 '26

Whatā€™s a Yondr pouch?

32

u/GreenEggsSteamedHams Jul 16 '26

A little further away than a Closr pouch

3

u/area42 Jul 16 '26

It's a faraday cage with a lock

3

u/reddits_aight Jul 16 '26

A bag with a strong magnetic lock. Some musicians and comedians, or private events use them to prevent recording. You put your phone in it when they scan your ticket/search your bag etc. So your phone is still with you, no one has to confiscate anything, but you get a phone-free event. Sometimes there are spots you can go to have it temporarily unlocked outside the venue if you need to send a quick message or call. When you leave, there's a kiosk where you tap the bag on a magnet and open it up, and return the bag.

Don't know how it works in schools. Presumably some staff can unlock them if needed, and maybe a similar unlock spot near the exit? Seems like a big bottleneck for a school though.

2

u/Nearby_Ad_2519 Jul 16 '26

A pouch with a strong magnetic based lock. They were originally made to stop recording at concerts for copyright purposes, but one school saw them and was like ā€œwe could use these to stop students from using phonesā€ and now schools are their main customers

114

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

My daughter's school had a no phone policy. I completely understood it in lesson times but I don't understand why they couldn't use their phones at break times. Especially when I would call the school to ask them to let her know i was picking her up and not to get on the school bus, and they would say "have you tried calling/texting her?" Er, no, because by your rules she can't use her phone otherwise I wouldn't need you to pass the message on! šŸ˜’

59

u/Zealousideal-Cost-66 Jul 16 '26

I know it seems contradictory for them to ask you that, but I could see the front office admin at my school asking as well just because of the amount of parents we have who contact their kids during the day despite knowing our no phone policy.

Almost every time a studentā€™s phone rang aloud in my classroom this past year (once every 3-4 weeks), it was almost always parent (once it was spam, & once it was a cousin). It just blows my mind how often a parent would straight up CALL their kid during the middle of the school dayā€¦ like, where do you think they are?!

I remember one time a kid even asked for permission to text their parent because they wouldnā€™t stop blowing up their phone & the dad was getting MAD that the student wasnā€™t respondingā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ she was a trustworthy student (plus she straight up showed up me the messages), so I let her, of course, but yeah some parents just donā€™t give a fuck about the rules.

Thank you for being a parent who does abide by them, though!!! Just wanted to offer some perspective of why they may have asked you that šŸ¤—

10

u/civil_peace2022 Jul 16 '26

Send the kid home with a letter assigning detention to the parent.

2

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

I do think they should be on silent or switched off during lessons!

When I was at school (actually the same school my daughter ended up attending, but before it was made into an academy) we were allowed phones, but if we used them, or they went off in class, they got taken off us (usually just for that lesson).

The one and only time I actually forgot to put my phone on silent was during one of my GCSE exams. Wanted the ground to swallow me up when it started ringing and I had to stand at the front of the exam hall šŸ˜±

74

u/CliffMourene Jul 16 '26

It is insanely depressing to walk through the halls of a school and every kid is staring down at their phone.

32

u/One-Flow-8985 Jul 16 '26

Or see them sitting around a table at lunch staring at them in total silence.

1

u/ohmygodcrayons Jul 16 '26

Damn. I'm glad I went to school in the 90s. Lunch was so fun talking to all my friends, laughing and being silly having a great time. Miss those days so much :(

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

I went to school in the 90s. We had phones and still had fun and chatted at break times.

21

u/Parking_Champion_740 Jul 16 '26

I loved that at my kidsā€™ middle school they were not allowed to used phones during lunchā€¦.youā€™d see kids playing card games etc

3

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

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1

u/newpotatocaboose54 Jul 16 '26

The powers that be want kids on Draft Kings or Kalshi--they want their cut, and they'll extend credit to kids if they can.

6

u/ChimpoSensei Jul 16 '26

Blackjack, three card monte, all the classics

8

u/CliffMourene Jul 16 '26

EXACTLY! I want students talking with one another.

2

u/NYanae555 Jul 16 '26

I'm shocked your schools allowed cards. Ours forbid them.

32

u/FutureFreaksMeowt Aqua Tofana save us from these fuckass men Jul 16 '26

How ever will the children survive public education without their phones??!!

Oh, right. The same way they did for decades before 2007 release of the iPhone, probably.

9

u/Kimothy42 Jul 16 '26

We played a lot of Snake, thoughā€¦

4

u/FutureFreaksMeowt Aqua Tofana save us from these fuckass men Jul 16 '26

We did. I even splurged and bought Tetris for my razr

3

u/Traditionallydead Jul 16 '26

huh i could write a blog about being one of the last people to spend my first years talking to people instead of hearing mister beast and

12

u/FutureFreaksMeowt Aqua Tofana save us from these fuckass men Jul 16 '26

Millennials in general are the last generation to go through high school without smartphones. We barely had flip phones.

2

u/Sneakingrat Jul 16 '26

what an odd and condescending comment, when I was in secondary school we kinda needed them because our timetables were digital and only accessible from an app or website,

way more convenient than paper timetables btw :3

2

u/hum_dum Jul 16 '26

How often did your class schedule change? I always had it down by day 2 or 3

1

u/WitchQween Jul 16 '26

When I was a kid, ours were a board with buttons that would light up when pressed to reveal the answer. They were way cooler than anything digital.

2

u/Sneakingrat Jul 16 '26

???
I think you misunderstand I meant timetable like what class you had and which room lol

1

u/Agreeable_Cut4506 Jul 16 '26

You forget that some kids are assholes and like to harass other kids. Being able to use a phone during lunch would have made my horrible middle school experience ever so slightly better

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

Yep. My daughter had terrible anxiety (unfortunately she gets that from me! Along with being neurodivergent) and being able to contact me whenever she needed to (outside of lessons) would have really helped her go in on the days she was struggling. There were some days we would be sitting in the school car park for ages because she was sobbing and couldn't go in. Also didn't help that I had cancer and she had to have 6 months off when we moved to my sisters temporarily.

Sorry your school experience was a bit shit šŸ˜ž

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u/RugbyEdd Jul 16 '26

Because children's social skills are suffering due to constantly being on social media, and it's getting to the point where break times where just kids stood around looking at their phones.

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u/gummiworms9005 Jul 16 '26

Technology is making kids dumber than ever. Meanwhile, you want your kid to have more screen time.

You raised an iPad kid. Thanks for your contribution to society.

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

No, I really didn't šŸ¤£ Ever since she was given a phone she's been conscious of her screen time and wanting to keep it low, I didn't even need to tell her. Phones are predominantly for communication. I just wanted my highly anxious child to be able to text me on her break if she needed to. She would have had way less days off due to anxiety if she knew she was not alone at school with no way to ask for help if she needed it.

2

u/Thunderplant Jul 16 '26

I kinda get the no phones during breaks thing, because honestly there isn't much break time during school and it's probably for the best if the kid is going to the bathroom/getting water/going to their locker etc during shorter breaks and eating food during lunch. Plus talking to other kids is going to be way better than checking tiktok for 30 seconds & it means you won't have as much temptation to just finish whatever they were doing over the break

1

u/ForensicPathology Jul 16 '26

Yep, where I work, the kids can keep the phone in the locker, but if it's ever outside that, it's confiscated.

1

u/PeakDifferent8291 Jul 16 '26

You are an exception, but most parents do NOT follow the rules and call or text their kids DURING lesson timeā€”and they know it. Then, the kid, very entitled, says ā€œI cannot put away my phone, my mom is texting me!ā€ Or ā€œIā€™m going to take this call bc itā€™s my mom!ā€ ā€” I wish all schools would have cameras inside the classrooms so parents can actually see how their angels behaveā€¦ thereā€™s always two versions when behavior issues arise, and 90% of the time parents always side and excuse their children, even though thereā€™s usually a documented history of similar incidents.Ā 

Kudos to you for being a responsible parent!

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

I think phone usage during lesson times is a definite no. My daughter was luckily quite a good child and stayed off her phone anyway, but I told her I would debate it with the school if she used her phone on her break and got caught, but if she used it during lessons then I would fully support the school's decision to confiscate her phone and she would also lose access to it at home for a while!

1

u/430ppm Jul 16 '26

Iā€™m sure you know this but a major issue with phones out in schools is that children will (& do) video and photograph each other and post these videos and pictures online. Other children have a right to privacy, and many parents request that photos are not taken of their children.

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

See, I understand this point but it's not always a bad thing to have a camera available! My daughter's school started locking and barricading the toilets and when parents complained about this, they point blank lied and said they would never lock the toilets....until some of the students managed to sneak and share pictures of the locked and barricaded toilets! Only then did the school admit it and start unlocking the toilets!

However, I do understand that cameras can be an issue. I think it boils down to more education (from parents and schools) about phone usage, privacy, social media etc, and the consequences this can have.

1

u/PeakDifferent8291 Jul 16 '26

You seem like a reasonable and responsible parent, and I genuinely commend you for that. However, as I mentioned earlier, you are part of the minority.Ā 

I am not excusing the school for locking the bathrooms, although I can understand why they might resort to that decision in certain situations. There have been trendsā€”often spread through platforms like TikTokā€”where students deliberately vandalize school bathrooms: breaking soap dispensers, clogging toilets with debris, damaging sinks, and worse. In some cases, students have even urinated or defecated on the floors, or smeared waste on the walls.Ā 

Consider the impact on staff. A maintenance worker may be called to fix a toilet that was intentionally damaged, while a custodian may have to clean human waste from floors or walls. These are situations no one should have to deal with, especially when they are the result of deliberate behavior.Ā 

Unfortunately, these actions are sometimes enabled by a lack of accountability at home, where consequences are minimal or behavior is excused. I often ask: how would you feel if your own parent were asked to come to school and clean up a mess you intentionally made?

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 16 '26

The reason they locked the toilets was because they didn't want students going to the toilet during lessons, and because there were "too many" students trying to use the toilets at break times and between lessons.

The school said it was to teach students that when they are employed, they will not be able to use the toilet when they need to (which, for the majority is not true).

1

u/430ppm Jul 17 '26

At my high school we definitely lock a lot of toilets during classes and breaks. We have teachers on duty by any bathrooms being used. Kids will fight in bathrooms, film fights in bathrooms, self-harm etc. Teachers are monitoring so many things beyond the few situations you name ā€¦

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 17 '26

Appreciate that, but when they are locking all the toilets and sending letters home to say that students are not allowed to use the toilet during lessons, that's different. Being able to use the toilet is a basic human right. Not to mention teenagers dealing with irregular and heavy periods. Students were humiliated into saying in front of the class that they had started their period/leaked, and were STILL not allowed to use the toilet! Thankfully my daughter is about to start uni so the absolute horror of high school is a distant memory for the both of us!

1

u/430ppm Jul 17 '26

Iā€™ll have kids show up to class and say ā€œIā€™ll piss on you right now Miss, Iā€™ll piss right hereā€ if I let their friend go to the bathroom before them. Theyā€™ll do this several times in a lesson, several times a week. It is disruptive and disrespectful behaviour. Teachers and schools know itā€™s a human right, we are not stupid. We let kids go but generally one at a time and not several times per class (they can go to the nurse if theyā€™re that ill). Most teachers and most schools are not being unreasonable about bathroom visits.

Parents on the other hand are sometimes threatening and aggressive about a ā€˜one child to the bathroom at a timeā€™ (unless you have a medical pass) rule, making unfair representations of teachers.

Sounds like you had one bad situation at one school. Weird they didnā€™t allow medical exemptions. Sad that your daughter is off to uni with you having such a poor opinion of her school.

Wonā€™t continue to try provide context!!

1

u/Moonah_Ston Jul 17 '26

Well, firstly, kids that speak to you like that deserve all they get. I would have fumed at my daughter if she spoke to someone that way. I also understand the 1x student per class as students will try to get out of class together.

Unfortunately this school was very unreasonable about toilet usage and tried to tell parents that students were lying when parents had complained. The deputy head called me to say they did not lock toilets, and would not lock toilets, but that turned out to be a blatant lie.

This was one school, but there were many, many issues (which I won't bore you with), unfortunately! Both in the time I was there, and the time my daughter attended. There were some fantastic teachers whom my daughter remembers fondly (and one member of the pastoral team who really tried to help and support my daughter with her anxiety and through my cancer treatment), but the leadership of the school completely let it down.

12

u/GTCapone Jul 16 '26

Last year we had them due to a state law and it was awesome. Having a law to back it up meant there wasn't any grey area. Since we can lose our certification for not enforcing it, nobody blew it off. We went from biweekly fights to less than one fight a month, student behavior in general was much better, and some students even told me they ultimately liked the policy because everyone was nicer and more social.

The best part was our admin took the lead on enforcement. Kids got one chance to hand over a phone when they got caught and then we called a principal to deal with it and continued the lesson. Any parent complaints got handled by a principal too. All told, I only confiscated 3-4 phones the entire year, plus a few I confiscated because I caught a kid trying to break the pouch open.

1

u/WitchQween Jul 16 '26

My state amended their previous ban on pagers to include cell phones. I had no idea phones (or pagers) were banned in schools here. We were more concerned about the 10 Commandments being required in every classroom... which gives them something to read, I guess.

Good news: you now have 90 days for a parent to pick up your confiscated pager instead of 60!

Thank you for giving me something to Google

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u/Pure_Salary_8796 Jul 16 '26

I feel like no phones is good unless they have a medically condition and need the phone. Like diabetes if they have a dexcom they should be allowed to have the phone with them

48

u/rellyks13 Jul 16 '26

and that's what 504 plans are for! we have a no phone policy, it's really easy to implement exceptions for medical conditions and accommodations

26

u/ThatAirsickLowlander Jul 16 '26

Which they will be allowed with any kind of doctors note

-2

u/Legitimate-Golf1562 Jul 16 '26

No, most public schools demand certain authorized doctors that charge 1000 USD assessment fees and kick back to person making this policy decision, or you get no help.

1

u/ferriswheeljunkies11 Jul 16 '26

Maybe in Mexico but not in the US

1

u/Legitimate-Golf1562 Jul 16 '26

I went to school in several US States.

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u/Scary_Policy_3177 Jul 16 '26

Those things are fun for annoying people phone beeps every few minutes so if it at the office itā€™s gonna beep every time when you phone gets far from you

2

u/Heartbreak-Scorsese Jul 16 '26

Phones weren't even a thing when I was at school, and we were all fine, even the ones with medical conditions

12

u/FutureFreaksMeowt Aqua Tofana save us from these fuckass men Jul 16 '26

I mean, I agree but also a lot of these medical devices are on their phones in ways they weren't when we were kids. Accommodations need to be made.

19

u/Kenesaw_Mt_Landis Jul 16 '26

Yes. But if youā€™re trying to help diabetic student, learn to self manage their condition given modern medical technologyā€¦ Having phone access really does make the most use of it.

Thatā€™s 100% a rare case but OK

7

u/ew73 Jul 16 '26

Me neither, and you know what, managing type 1 today with modern technology is a hundred times better, safer, and more effective using things like closed loop systems than it was when I was in school.

Expecting students to literally accept a lesser standard of care because "phones are bad" is not only dumb, it's downright dangerous and explicitly harmful.

3

u/Pure_Salary_8796 Jul 16 '26

Diabetics with a dexcom NEED to have their phones or they could be at risk of high or low blood sugar. Which can be deadly if not treated.

5

u/DrWhoey Jul 16 '26

Sure, the ones that lived were. /s

1

u/Accurate_Summer_1761 Jul 16 '26

We live woth these things we need to teach the kids to moderate to be fair

1

u/DestructoDon69 Jul 16 '26

Fair. Now, idk about you but I went to school with some of the folks that are currently teachers and school nurses...let's just say, my confidence has somewhat waned.

2

u/jonas_ost Jul 16 '26

Many schools in sweden have techers just collect the phones in the morning.

2

u/Textiles_on_Main_St Jul 16 '26

Theyā€™re great but also if the admin just makes a zero tolerance policy and enforces it, itā€™s just as good. But either way, itā€™s great. Frankly? I think the kids appreciate it because it really does force them to listen and focus.

2

u/Jonsnowlivesnow Jul 16 '26

Pretty sure California just passed a law or something saying students had to lock up phones during school hours.

3

u/reigning_guava Jul 16 '26

I totally understand the frustration around the cell phones, but on the other hand I think locking them in pouches is terrible in the event of an emergency. My cousins were in the Parkland shooting, and they were able to say their goodbyes to their parents, because they had possession of their phones. They thought they were going to die with their classmates. For hours, most parents had absolutely zero knowledge of what was truly happening at school. Alot of them didnt know if their child was even still alive. the kids that had phones were able to text their parents before they either died or finally get out safely, and I know most if not all the parents that had received texts or calls from their children were grateful to hear from their kids, even if it mightve been the last time they ever did.

Schools are also able to lockdown faster due to kids report shooting/bomb threats or minor gun possession that theyā€™ve seen on snapchat or instagram, etc.
I do think states need to allocate more resources and open up more schools to better distribute class size, so managing phone use wouldnt have to be so dang difficult for under paid teachers.
Right now it seems like a lose or lose situation for teachers and parents. I can see both sides

2

u/noblewind Jul 16 '26

They are against the law during school in my state, Arkansas, and there's still tons of phone use according to my middle schooler, sadly.

1

u/AttentionDelicious14 Jul 16 '26

Until you hear the annoying noise of people hitting them against walls trying to bust them open (If u do hit them hard enough against a desk it does open) a lot of people would do it against the bathroom walls. Thankfully I only had them my senior year

1

u/aceofspades1217 Jul 16 '26

Thereā€™s a lot of methods that have pros and cons Needs buyin education and enforcement whether itā€™s yonder pouches, cubbies, carts etc

1

u/Gold_Marionberry_553 Jul 16 '26

I appreciate my district's approach with graduated freedom. Absolutely no devices (watches, especially buds, phones) for elementary ages, phones are allowed before and after school at middle schools, and the high school students are allowed to have them during non-instrucrional times. Enforcement a different issue but it's absolutely been an improvement.

1

u/playdough87 Jul 16 '26

Banning phones isn't hard, it's pretty easy and common. Just have to be run by responsible adults who prioritize doing what's best for kids vs what's popular with kids.

1

u/Existing-Guarantee80 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Edit- added note: The one kid that canā€™t figure out how to open the yonder pouch is also gonna be the one kid that never remembers to mute their phone. So itā€™s gonna ring every single day and they arenā€™t going to be able to turn it off. So thatā€™s gonna be fun having to pause lessons for 30 seconds every day, or send the kid to an entrance to use one of the official opening devices. Or a teacher is going to have to eventually show the entire class how to bypass the magnet just to avoid that shitshow.

There is a 0% chance anyone over the age of 7 isnā€™t going to figure out how to open and close that whenever they want in under a day. $25 is stupid expensive for what it is. Itā€™s a sock with a magnetic closing pin. That doesnā€™t even seem to close very tight. And can be opened and closed with no visible damage to the pouch. Even if the kid is too stupid to know how magnets work, a small amount of physical force will still open it.

A faraday pouch (that costs $4) that has a velcro closure will do better at reducing distractions. It still wonā€™t work, but itā€™ll at least keep phones from beeping/buzzing constantly (by blocking signal.) Stack a faraday pouch with a 0 phones out policy will at least do something.

The yonder pouch doesnā€™t even block signal, so itā€™s going to keep buzzing and make them more likely to want to try to open it. And they absolutely will. Itā€™s just making every single parent pay an extra ~$20 for proprietary hardware that wonā€™t even work. Itā€™s just exploitative capitalism with a half baked idea from a tech-bro company.

1

u/MaximumDepression17 Jul 16 '26

I think having a policy that it goes to the office until the end of day is good enough. Locking up someone else's property is not acceptable and not your place to do.

Additionally as a teacher you should know that trying to stop teenagers from doing something only makes them better at hiding it.

They should be able to use their phone during breaks and stuff. How do these work? Are you going to volunteer to spend time in your class unlocking them before the break? What a waste of time and resources.

My school simply took your phone if you were on it during a time where you weren't allowed, and most teachers were capable of using their own critical thinking to determine if they should take it. If you were checking it while the teacher was preparing or If you were doing well and getting your work done and had to check a message, they couldn't care less.

1

u/Trident_True PURPLE Jul 16 '26

We had no-phone policies in the 2000s and didn't need these pouches for it. You had your phone out, you were told to put it away. You had it out again, it was taken off you. Is that so hard to implement?

1

u/lowbatteries Jul 16 '26

It seems to me like student-teacher ratio would fix a lot of the cell phone problem, wouldn't it? Getting the focus of 10 kids would be a lot easier than getting the focus of 30 kids.

1

u/dovahkiitten16 Jul 16 '26

I got my first ever cell phone because my school forced me to walk off the property with my kidnapper. I told them that he did not have permission to pick me up and I was chastised for being rude for crying at the sight of him. The only reason Iā€™m okay is because he built up a fantasy of me being happy to go away with him and be taken from my parents, so I shattered that fantasy and he dropped me back off when I didnā€™t want to go live with him.

I can never endorse a policy that restricts a childā€™s ability to use a phone - independent of school administration - in an emergency. Sure, keep the phone away and donā€™t use it during class (and take it away if someone breaks the rules). But I feel like so many people donā€™t understand the fact that the school itself is the reason a kid may need a phone. I kept my phone hidden in my period bag to pass the backpack searches, because my schoolā€™s staff was precisely why I needed a phone in the first place.

1

u/Lunch0 Jul 16 '26

In Quebec they banned cellphones in schools just over a year ago and the change in social behavior amongst students has been incredible.

1

u/spinny09 Jul 16 '26

When thereā€™s a population of degenerate children with a will, thereā€™s a population of degenerate children with a way. Theyā€™ll get past it somehow even if it means they get in more trouble later. They donā€™t care. All these policies do is make ā€œbad kidsā€ more creative with skirting the rules and the ā€œgood kidsā€ actually end up following the policies. These pouches are the prime example.

1

u/itisclosetous Jul 16 '26

You don't need to spend this kind of money to implement an effective phone policy.

My school has had the same basic policy for 3 years: No phones from the start to the end of the day. Leave them at home or in your locker. If an adult in the building catches you with your phone in a pocket or in your hand, you walk it to the office. 3 offenses, guardian has to come in to get the phone.

The key is that teachers don't track, admin does.

Do the kids hide them in pockets and use them in the bathroom? OF COURSE. are they using them in class, hallways, lunch? NOPE. I'll take it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

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1

u/itisclosetous Jul 17 '26

So, any adult familiar with kids who reads this sees several things telling us you needed real emotional help and didn't get it.

There's no way you're a reliable narrator to your middle school existence, dude. Nobody goes from a decent student academically who doesn't socialize... To theft, biting a teacher and then getting suspended and failing grades repeatedly, just for a phone being taken away once.

I'm sorry you didn't get what you needed. It was not your phone.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

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1

u/itisclosetous Jul 17 '26

So, no, if the school policy is no phones, then you should have read a book or brought a sketchpad.

Those are suggestions I am sure someone else made.

Phones and kids are bad. Phones and adults are pretty bad, too.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

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1

u/itisclosetous Jul 17 '26

Not harmless. Obviously not harmless. It was a reasonable policy and you reacted poorly because you needed a lot of help you weren't getting. I'm gonna guess you still aren't in a very good place.

This isn't going to be productive for either of us. I wish you healing and perspective.

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u/Nearby_Ad_2519 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

Student here

If students want to use their phones, they will find a way to. Iā€™m not endorsing it, but these yonder pouches are so easy to smash open or just not use all together, and our school was one of the stricter ones when it came to enforcing it.

I get your pain tho.

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u/AndyWarwheels Jul 16 '26

why? Why cant just you as a teacher tell the kids they cant use phones in your class?

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u/PlacibiEffect Jul 16 '26

Iā€™m confused by this. Can you not just set consequences for having phones out during class like every class Iā€™ve ever been to has?

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u/Busy_Seesaw8880 Jul 16 '26

When I was in highschool, I was depressed and bullied really badly, so I used my phone a lot between classes to call or text my parents or friends. If I hadn't been able to do that, I probably would've failed my classes and stopped going to school entirely. Now that those pouches are a thing, I imagine that possibility for me is going to become a reality for a lot of students, which makes me sad

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u/ChicagoTRS666 Jul 16 '26

State law in Illinois...No phone use in Illinois schools.

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u/CannedNoodlez Jul 16 '26

My niece is going to be a senior in high school and sheā€™s always texting our family group chat while in school. Pay attention in class, dumbass.

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u/PeakDifferent8291 Jul 16 '26

Exactly! And what is most frustrating is when mom or dad keeps texting or calling when they know their student is in class! Why donā€™t they call the office if itā€™s really an emergency!

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u/Imthatsick Jul 16 '26

The high school I work at did it last year without pouches. Each teacher was given a box they could keep at the front if the classroom with slots in it for all the students' phones. At the start of class they put it in and they pick it up at the end of class. If you say you don't have it with you that's fine, we encourage them to leave phones at home. If they pull out a phone during class an admin comes and takes it for the rest of the day. A second infraction and the parent has to come pick it up.

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