Should cell phones be allowed in the classroom? No!

In an environment where teenagers are competing against one another academically, and stress is always looming, there’s no need for the technological world to plague already scattered minds. We should be taking every measure to improve classroom engagement.

I’m sitting in my zero period chemistry class at Redondo Union High School, my eyes already stinging from exhaustion and my attention span holding on by a thread. Suddenly, the faint noise of my seat mate’s TikTok For You Page permeates my brain and takes my focus away from the lesson at hand. My mind wanders through the depths of my mental agenda, until soon enough, chemistry becomes my lowest grade. I wonder why.

While we might try to deny the effect that phones have on us at school, we’re all teenagers, and most of us do care about what’s waiting for us on our phones during class.

For a teacher, there aren’t many other ways to combat students’ urges besides the widely unpopular phone holder. And no matter how much students complain about it, having phones out of reach can produce higher grades and better engagement in the classroom setting.

As a sophomore who’s being introduced to the world of APs, I’m learning very quickly that there’s no room for my mind to stray during lessons. If I’m in the middle of an AP Seminar timed write, the time doesn’t stop for me to get on my phone and wonder if I should post that one picture on my story. But it happens to all of us, which means it’s in our best interest to find a solution for the problem—that solution being the phone holder.

In a study done in 2022 at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, professionals observed the evolution of phone regulations in New York’s schools. While schools were confident that their old phone regulations were ensuring success, both students and parents were insisting that phone use should be normalized in the classroom. After these complaints finally lifted the phone ban, grades gradually dropped due to the lack of focus students displayed during class.

The teacher’s job is to keep their students engaged, which in return will help the students maintain good grades. If students continuously roam away from this system by distracting themselves with their phones, it gives reason for the teacher to enforce a phone-holding policy. Sure, it can be a little bit of a bummer, but what we don’t seem to realize is that restricting phone usage is just the teacher doing their job.

Some of my peers, including sophomore Haley Eder, have mentioned that their stress during school is reduced without the presence of phones. The devices are no longer there to constantly remind them of their social lives, sports, and other outside factors.

A small fraction of bitter students like to challenge the phone rules by throwing out claims that if teachers take away phones, it shows a lack of trust between teachers and students and therefore makes the class less inviting. However, according to an RUHS [Redondo Union High School] teacher who asked to stay anonymous, most students are respectful about phone use in class—but there’s always an outlier of kids who disrupt the classroom by using their phones. A phone holder is simply an “equitable, uniform standard for everyone” so teachers are able to “keep the power of the classroom alive and focus on growth,” the teacher said.

I’m an underclassman, and with expectations being set higher and higher every year for college admissions, I won’t be one to fight with a teacher about phone holders if it ultimately sets me up for academic success over the course of high school. In this competitive climate, we should be taking every measure to improve classroom engagement, whether it’s popular with students or not.