Cellphones can foster teacher accountability too
Last week, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Leece announced a back-to-basics plan for students, including a ban on cellphone use in classrooms. The primary reason given is obvious. Parents and teachers have been concerned about the distractions that cellphones cause.
The Ontario Student Health survey has reported that teenagers may be spending up to seven hours a day on their phones. Too much time on smartphones, video games, tablets, computers and televisions significantly impacts eating habits, reduces physical activities, limits social time, and may lead to anxiety and depression.
On the surface of things, the limitation makes sense. However, any secondary school teacher knows that students often have a number of devices with them in order to complete work assigned. Most have a computer, a tablet, or a similar device in addition to a phone. Removing phones certainly limits distractions, but it does not eliminate them.
Schools have tried different ways to help students focus better and stay safe. Limiting certain sites so that they can't be used on school networks is one example. Students can be tech-savvy and find ways to get around such restrictions. Banning cellphones may reduce some distractions in class, such as receiving messages, but it will not get rid of them altogether.
Of concern is that students not having phones means they will no longer be able to take videos in the classroom. While privacy is extremely important and the protection of dignity essential in any workplace, especially in a school setting, students recording incidents in classes have at times provided important checks and balances.
A video posted recently on X allegedly shows a guidance counsellor in Oakville, Ont., telling a student that he reminds her of a terrorist because he's wearing a Palestinian scarf wrapped around his head under his hoodie.
Teachers are key role models in our community. They build the foundation of who we become as a society and help nurture in incredible ways. Despite being professionals with high levels of integrity, they are nonetheless human, prone to losing patience at times, prone to individual biases.
At times, students who record inappropriate behaviour by teachers have been penalized for doing so.
Last year, Mary Walton, 15, filmed her teacher saying the N-word repeatedly at Glendale High School in Springfield, Missouri. Walton was suspended for recording.
According to Fraser Valley Today, a student in Chilliwack, B.C., was suspended for posting a video of a teacher discussing the Israel-palestine conflict. The Jewish advocacy organization B'nai Brith complained that the teacher was antisemitic, but it was the student who paid the price.
As a mother of a teen, I know all too well the importance of cutting back on screen time. Exercising for an hour a day, eating well and sleeping enough, along with reducing toxic screen time, are all strategies that my child's amazing pediatrician has recommended to help my child focus better.
If the Ministry of Education is sincere in its efforts, it would also make gym or physical activity mandatory beyond Grade 9. Teenagers in Ontario can essentially become couch potatoes beyond Grade 9 if they choose to.
The Ministry might also encourage better food choices. Many schools no longer have food served at cafeterias, and vending machines filled with pop, chips and candy are often installed in schools, inviting students to make poor choices.
As an advocate for teachers and students to have safe spaces and be able to seize upon teaching moments, I am not sure whether the province wants screen time to be reduced, or if it wants students censored.
If students can no longer record interactions, the word of the student is pitted against the word of the teacher.
In an increasingly litigious world, students and teachers both need the tools to be able to navigate difficult conversations.
In a changing world, it isn't easy to have difficult conversations in a classroom in an equitable, culturally sensitive, bias-free fashion at all times.
Checks and balances should be in place to keep both teachers and students safe in schools, but there is no denying that the current balance of power favours adults.