I personally think that responsible smartphone use should be learned and practiced, rather than outright banning them.
I think this shows that adults are terribly addicted to their devices and think if they can’t stop using them, children won’t either. They certainly can’t teach how to use phones responsibly if they can’t do it themselves. Unfortunately for children the result is an outright ban.
This was exactly my thought. Every student with access to a smartphone has almost the entirety of human knowledge in their pocket. Yet our education system is still using printed books and standardized tests written by for profit corporations. US students spend more time taking standardized tests than they do actually learning subjects and engaging with their teachers.
Our entire education system, like many current systems in place in our society, are antiquated and in dire need to be reimagined/redesigned for the 21st century. Trying to make school more about babysitting and less about education is not the way to go.