Phones banned at school; students dislike policy

by Lucy C.

This year, all schools in South Carolina have a new cell phone policy. Phones must be put away during class time. The state law will be fully implemented at the beginning of the new year in January, but several schools have already begun to crack down, including AHS. For the most part, students at AHS do not like this policy. 

Erin J., a senior who attends the airport states, “Yes, I think they should allow phones in school because phones can’t be erased from existence. They are here and we should learn how to work around it.”  Teachers who share online also agree with working with phones being in school.

Yesenia M. A senior at Airport High School States, “The environment has improved so far in the weeks of school no fights have started and mostly because they start through social media.” Social media we knew to have factors into fights starting as social media is where we are able to share our opinions freely. 

Erin J. States, “Yes, I believe there should be times that we should be able to use our phones such as nest time or at the end of class because when your done with your work and the teacher is done with the lesson you are left to do nothing and that I feel is an appropriate time to use our phones.” 

Some people believe that fights have decreased due to phones being banned. Others believe that phones should be allowed to use their phones when students are finished with their work early and just end up sitting in class doing nothing.

Online surveys conducted in Kentucky most principals responded with an increase of implementing social media in their schools.

Ethnic background may also be an impact of reason to ban phones in schools,Vikas Mittal writes,“According to a 2022 student of 10,897 parents with a child in school, 61 percent agree they would support banning cell phones from classrooms.Support high among Asia (64%), caucasian (61%), African American (60%) and high (61%) socioeconomic status support bans. This may be due to aspects and perspective of their ethnic background and how they view schools for their child. 

Another interesting fact is that Florida was the first known state to ban phones in school. As the first state to ban phones during class time, this may have influenced other states to do the same. To implement this factor to view educational statistics as they have decreased throughout the past few years.

A 2024 poll conducted by National Parents Union found that more than 80% of parents supported the banning of phones in school. The other percentage may not have voted in favor of phones being banned for purposes such as communicating with their kids through the school day. 

As we all have perspectives and reasonings for deciding whether phones should be allowed in school. If you would like to speak about your opinion on this talk to your representatives. You can also access more information on this topic on  kff.org.