Copyright The Boston Globe
Parents also need to break the habit of constant connection The anxiety of parents is affecting the tranquility of schools. The Oct. 30 editorial, “Get cellphones out of schools,” correctly identifies parents’ desires to maintain continual contact with their children as an obstacle to in-class cellphone bans. The sometimes-excessive supervision of parents has already shrunk the boundaries of neighborhood play, redefined sleepovers, and limited outdoor activities. Now this modern iteration has become a flashpoint in school committee meetings and parent-teacher conferences across the state. Parents need to remind themselves of the roles that schools play in protecting children. For decades, parents have relied on schools to educate their children in nonacademic areas. Sexual education, nutritional health, and digital literacy are examples of school-based education that has been provided, put into place to counter growing societal trends in sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, and internet privacy issues. Many of these educational programs have state-sponsored support. The job of educators to implement health-conscious environments is not a new responsibility. Parents should support in-class cellphone bans as the next frontier of schools’ responsibility to protect a vulnerable population from societal health crises. Advertisement Elizabeth K. Englander Bridgewater The writer is a professor of psychology and executive director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University. Cellphone bans are great, but AI could pose a bigger problem New York State banned student cellphones in K-12 schools starting this fall. The ban has been an academic and social success. Teachers in that state are reporting higher engagement in class and more student conversation, and school libraries in Kentucky, another state with a ban, are reporting higher book circulation. I expect Massachusetts will quickly follow suit and ban cellphones in schools. Such a ban would be great, but we have a bigger problem. Parents and schools are being told that students need to use artificial intelligence in education. The same arguments that tech companies used to justify increased educational technology in class are being used to justify increasing AI use in schools now. Advertisement Let’s not be fooled again. Our students shouldn’t be a grand social experiment to enrich tech companies. The claims these firms are making are marketing claims, not educationally researched findings. We need to be wary and protect our students from another technological and social experiment. Mary Holmes Worcester The writer is a retired New York State public school teacher who has worked in Massachusetts schools for the past three years. Students still find a way to get sucked into technology Banning cellphones from schools is a good start, but we also must curtail the use of computers in the classroom. Students easily bypass school-imposed firewalls and access the internet for games, videos, and messaging. A recent study of 30 schools across Britain by the University of Birmingham strongly suggests that school cellphone bans are not enough to counteract the negative effects of technology. Perhaps legislation is needed to ban certain apps or cellphone use for minors, similar to what we do with cigarettes and alcohol. A student who was up all night doomscrolling isn’t very attentive in class, regardless of whether cellphones are prohibited. Students need a good night’s sleep. They also need more recess, more field trips, and more time to actually talk to one another. Teachers can’t cure all of society’s ills. We need everyone’s help. Michael Maguire West Roxbury The writer is in his 32d year as a teacher at Boston Latin Academy.
