Before the current wave of laws banning mobile phones in schools, we had published a piece from some researchers who had looked at how similar bans had worked in Australia, with the conclusion that… they didn’t. At best, the research showed the evidence on school phone bans to be “weak and inconclusive.” Those authors suggested that rather than doing outright bans, politicians should leave the issue to the schools themselves to determine what’s best.
So it should come as little surprise that two years later, after many similar bans have gone into effect in the US that… the studies are showing up as (you guessed it) weak and inconclusive. The new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has some people shaking their heads because it can find no evidence of better student performance in schools.
Wait, you are telling me the moral outrage against smartphones massively misses the point?
Whatttt? I am shocked!
I’m surprised people think it will improve engagement or even kids paying attention to the lessons. Because as much as I understand that cell phones are absolutely a distraction in class to the point where I can understand banning them, kids who don’t want to pay attention and don’t have cell phones will find other ways to get distracted. The cell phone is just the newest medium.
If what some of these studies are saying is correct, not being allowed to have a cell phone is just as distracting if not more so.