Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

[u/TheAeroplaneBear2906]

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

[u/TheMaidenOfDragons]

Genuine question - I guess I’m confused because I haven’t been in middle school in almost two decades, but phones have never been allowed to be used during school.

Why can’t the old rules still work? If a teacher sees you with your phone, they send you to the office. The punishments escalate from there.

I just really don’t understand how capitalism needed to be inserted in this equation by charging to lock phones up.

[u/HawaiiLife745 → u/TheMaidenOfDragons]

It comes down to an issue of scale. 10 years ago, the number of students who had a cellphone was a fraction of what it is now, and the number of students who were bold enough to use them during school was a fraction of that.

Now, if every teacher properly punished every student who ever used their phones during class, the system would get clogged. There simply isn't enough man-hours to call every parent, write every incident report, and verbally scold every student.

I'm not saying this is the way things should be, but it is a reality in a large number of schools.

[u/Soft_Phrase_7961 → u/HawaiiLife745]

As someone who recently graduated, my teachers kept a “phone jail” at the front of the class that they used to take attendance. If your phone wasn’t there, then you were marked absent unless you had a genuine reason why you didn’t have it.

[u/TheMaidenOfDragons → u/Soft_Phrase_7961]

You were marked absent if your phone wasn’t in a lock box? I’ll be honest if I were a parent in your district I would be escalating that to the school board and other appropriate parties.

At the end of the day that would be affecting someone’s legal right to their education and ability to graduate simply because they don’t put their phone in a box with a teacher, not because they actually weren’t learning, using their phone, or breaking any “rules”.

And I understand that putting your phone in a box would be a “rule” at your school, but at what point are rules unnecessarily restrictive and more harmful than good? Interesting.

[u/Soft_Phrase_7961 → u/TheMaidenOfDragons]

Did you miss the part where I said “unless you had a genuine reason”? Teachers were very reasonable regarding the rules whether you forgot it at home or whatever reason, and they would communicate regularly with parents if issues came up.

[u/Training_Tadpole_354 → u/Soft_Phrase_7961]

I mean, he has a point. What if I just decide to not bring my phone to school anymore? Because you put it in the lockbox there's literally no point in taking it to school, and I'd rather it just stay nice and safe on my desk at home.

[u/thegootlamb → u/Training_Tadpole_354]

If the point is to stop kids from being on their phones during school then it sounds like that's a solution that works.

[u/TheMaidenOfDragons → u/Soft_Phrase_7961]

Excuse me? That wasn’t my point. And I did read what you said. I was wondering who decides what is “reasonable”. Is it up to each individual teacher?

If I simply don’t put my phone in the box but I’m not using it, at what point is it okay to affect someone’s education for arbitrary rules?

Edit: so no one has an actual answer. Okay.

[u/Soft_Phrase_7961 → u/TheMaidenOfDragons]

If you’re not using it then you should have no issue putting it there. Kids are very crafty and have absolutely found methods of hiding their phones to make it look like they aren’t using it. It is not up to the teacher what is reasonable and nearly every excuse is acceptable as long as you show that your phone isn’t hidden in your backpack or pencil case, etc.

[u/TheMaidenOfDragons → u/Soft_Phrase_7961]

I have an issue with it being there and if I was a parent I would still have an issue with it.

My child is not supposed to be on their phone at school - that’s already a rule. Why should I pay for the privilege of them to continue following this rule?

My child’s phone that I paid for will stay on their person. If they were breaking the rule, they should be sent to the office and punishments should escalate from there.

Just because school administrations have no backbone and believe in collective punishment - doesn’t mean you have to participate.

You saying if your not using it there should be no issues is like saying that people should allow law enforcement to do as they please if they have nothing to hide. It’s a dangerous rhetoric to adhere too.