Victorian government bans school kids from using mobile phones

[DapperJong]

^lol

 

[Perth gal]

Can’t believe it took them so long.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Easy way to shift blame, I guess. Why blame mediocre teachers and a boring curriculum for falling education standards when you just blame it on students being distracted by their phones?

I'm sure 18-year-old high school students will appreciate being treated like little babies.

Gave you a like for ragging on and realising the serious issue that low teaching standards is. And the state of our education.

I also think it's pretty insane that 18-year olds still go to school basically everywhere in Australia now. We finished at 17 and by that point I felt pretty mature and ready. I moved out of home back when someone else had to buy my cartons. I honestly think you should finish at 16 – go get a trade, if not, you go to school from March to June to do classwork at an extended level then have five or six weeks which is intensive coursework blocks (say five or six days) that you're marked and exams you're marked on. Done by September. Know what you're doing by November. Uni at 17/18.

*head, dumb teachers who could see your exciting, close pathway and who resented you for it were everywhere. They saw those last months as the last time to make you feel like a little kid. I couldn't imagine eating that s**t while 18. Who the * deserves that when you've just voted in your country's election on the weekend? When you're going to buy a beer down the pub that Friday afternoon?

Maybe kids are pussies or I'm tightly wound and don't like being told what to do but... I'd be a mouthy little s**t if someone tried telling me – an adult – to put my phone away.

 

[Engimal v3]

The computer geek hid away a Halo file on the intranet system. We were all year 12 or so and had an allocated hour or two of study a week. I'd constantly abuse it and not go to ****ty classes and just hang out in the library, getting absolutely pwn3d while camping. I was so **** at it. Fun times though.

This appears to be a universal experience. Everyone had that one kid who put Halo on the school's network.

 

[Scotland]

Didn't take long for a SA teacher rant.

Phones are a bit of a scourge in general. I'm closer to by 20 year high school anniversary than my 10 so I don't know what schools or like (or really care) but people in the real world have just let phone etiquette evaporate. Some people still say things like 'sorry, I need to take this call it's important' while others will be talking to you and then just start texting in front of you. 'Sorry what was that, you're going down south this weekend was it? Or next?' Look dickhead if you're not going to even pay attention while standing two feet away I'm not going to repeat myself because you had to like a gif.

You see it at restaurants all the time. People have their phones out on the table next to their plate and after putting their penne alla arrabiata on their Instagram story (for everyone else to skip through) they are checking it every 2 minutes. It's a good first date screening mechanism. If I go to the bar or the loo you can check your phone. You keep checking it while I'm there then GTFO.

It's an added bonus about camping that didn't exist 20, 30 years ago. Go somewhere remote enough and your phone is useless. Sure you can watch movies or whatever you have saved on it but there's no connectivity. Put the ******* phone down and look at the stars or swim in a gorge or something.

 

[Scotland]

This appears to be a universal experience. Everyone had that one kid who put Halo on the school's network.

We had Quake.

I think it was allowed one lunch time for some gold coin donation school fundraiser thing but late 90s network security was like having one dude in a vest against 100,000 people entering the MCG. I didn't do IT as a subject beyond year 9 or 10 from memory but every time I went in or past the computer lab there would be at least one person alt-tabbing from game screen to Visual Basic or whatever it is they weren't to be doing.

 

[mouncey2franklin]

Isn't that pretty much what adult working life is?

Indeed. Which does not strike me as a coincidence.

 

[Gough]

I reckon trying to teach a bunch of mouthy teens with the world entire knowledge pretty much tucked in their pocket would be a pain in the arse.

 

[Scotland]

I reckon trying to teach a bunch of mouthy teens would be a pain in the arse full stop.

 

[Jobe Watson]

Indeed. Which does not strike me as a coincidence.

Yeah but at least the government isn't mandating that you can't use your phone for a cheeky office bathroom w*nk during your lunch break.

I haven't been at high school for a few years now, but I know that back then if I had a teacher that I actually liked or respected, or I was being taught something that was genuinely interesting or useful, then I didn't really have an inclination to be on my phone for longer than 5 seconds at a time. It was usually when you had a class with an arsehole teacher or someone who didn't know how to control the room that you'd have the tendency to slack off and not do your best work. I don't think treating VCE kids like irresponsible children is really going to work.

 

[Golden_6]

I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner to be honest.

My partner is a teacher and said half her class watched the NBA playoffs on their phone during class and refused to do any work. It's certainly not an easy situation to deal with especially trying to teach ancient history to a bunch of s**t kids who couldn't care less about the subject.

 

[Spirit Level]

I'm quite glad i finished school before the explosion of smartphones and tablets took over.

Also glad I went through school during the time of flip phones, Halo/Counter-strike LAN sessions and Myspace

 

[mouncey2franklin]

I haven't been at high school for a few years now, but I know that back then if I had a teacher that I actually liked or respected, or I was being taught something that was genuinely interesting or useful, then I didn't really have an inclination to be on my phone for longer than 5 seconds at a time.

Which is all it takes to lose your concentration on the task at hand.

 

[Scotland]

I haven't been at high school for a few years now, but I know that back then if I had a teacher that I actually liked or respected, or I was being taught something that was genuinely interesting or useful, then I didn't really have an inclination to be on my phone for longer than 5 seconds at a time. It was usually when you had a class with an arsehole teacher or someone who didn't know how to control the room that you'd have the tendency to slack off and not do your best work. I don't think treating VCE kids like irresponsible children is really going to work.

LOL.

This post reads like as a VCE kid you behaved like an irresponsible child, so on that basis it's probably a good initiative.

What kind of warped sense of entitlement leads to 'well if I like the teacher and I think I'm learning then I'll only check my phone for 5 seconds at a time'? Please tell me you are 25 or younger. You may not like your teacher (he/she probably doesn't like you either) and they may be no good (whether in your opinion or are genuinely not good at teaching) but I must have missed the day my parents sent me off to school and told 'Yeah if it's not for you just pull out a multimedia device and watch that instead. Great new series starting on Netflix'.

 

[Jobe Watson]

LOL.

This post reads like as a VCE kid you behaved like an irresponsible child, so on that basis it's probably a good initiative.

What kind of warped sense of entitlement leads to 'well if I like the teacher and I think I'm learning then I'll only check my phone for 5 seconds at a time'? Please tell me you are 25 or younger. You may not like your teacher (he/she probably doesn't like you either) and they may be no good (whether in your opinion or are genuinely not good at teaching) but I must have missed the day my parents sent me off to school and told 'Yeah if it's not for you just pull out a multimedia device and watch that instead. Great new series starting on Netflix'.

Surely it's pretty easy to understand why you would seek distractions - like sitting on Bigfooty in the middle of the work day while getting paid - if you are not being adequately engaged. Isn't it a bit entitled of you to take your employer's money while wasting time not doing your job? Of course it's pretty disrespectful to just openly sit there on your phone in the middle of class and not pay attention, but why does this need government intervention? Schools and teachers should be able to run their own game. I had plenty of teachers who let us listen to music or use our phones to take notes and didn't care so long as the work got done and we didn't disrupt the class. I think that approach works better than trying to be some authoritarian. There are studies that show that phones can be a useful tool in the classroom, and teaching teenagers how to use their devices to enhance their productivity could be highly beneficial. But yeah I'm sure socially active teenagers won't use their phones during lunch break because the state government told them not to.

Like parents blaming Fortnite for their kids not getting enough exercise, blaming phones and social media for teenagers struggling at school is an easy out.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

This appears to be a universal experience. Everyone had that one kid who put Halo on the school's network.

Unfortunately we were more of a CS:S kind of school

 

[Roobs321]

Remember when those sexy Apple iMacs arrived in the school computer lab around 1999? Nanosaur was the first unauthorised craze to really take hold at my school, before that it was mostly the standard computer game set which teachers encouraged, with Lemmings & especially BeeBop the biggest.

 

[Frank Bunn]

I think it's a good idea. Females particularly have an addiction to their phones which might be helped by mandated restrictions on their use. Having to engage with the teacher and their classmates while at school will be a good thing.

There is a wider issue. Take a look round your local McDonalds, shopping centre food court or playground. There's a generation of kids being raised by mothers who pay more attention to their phones than their children. We don't know the effects of this social experiment.

 

[Scotland]

Surely it's pretty easy to understand why you would seek distractions - like sitting on Bigfooty in the middle of the work day while getting paid - if you are not being adequately engaged. Of course it's pretty disrespectful to just openly sit there on your phone in the middle of class and not pay attention, but why does this need government intervention? Schools and teachers should be able to run their own game. I had plenty of teachers who let us listen to music or use our phones to take notes and didn't care so long as the work got done and we didn't disrupt the class. I think that approach works better than trying to be some authoritarian. There are studies that show that phones can be a useful tool in the classroom, and teaching teenagers how to use their devices to enhance their productivity could be highly beneficial. But yeah I'm sure socially active teenagers won't use their phones during lunch break because the state government told them not to.

Like parents blaming Fortnite for their kids not getting enough exercise, blaming phones and social media for teenagers struggling at school is an easy out.

Kids being distracted isn't a new phenomenon.

If parents are in fact blaming phones for that then it is an easy out but it's also an easy fix. You don't need a mobile phone at school in class. Do you not think it would be easier for teachers to just walk into a class room knowing 25-30 kids don't have phones rather than knowing all of them do and some or all will be playing them during the lesson? Smartphones are pretty distracting. If you to the movies (which is a lot darker than a classroom) they now tell you to turn your phones off. It's gone past ring tones and that irritating tapping noise that they make when you text, a 5 inch screen blaring 4 million lumen is annoying. You think if I'm sitting on my phone watching Youtube with headphones in that's not going to distract Billy next to me from his long division?

Will kids use them when they aren't allowed to? Of course. Kids aren't supposed to smoke or leave school grounds or finger Brittany behind the bike shed but they do it anyway. Kids being against a rule at school is a weak argument for not having the rule.

 

[NaturalDisaster]

If they are worried about distractions how about removing the old school education system and make learning more engaging?

 

[Gralin]

I'd be a mouthy little **** if someone tried telling me – an adult – to put my phone away.

so you're unemployed or work from home then?

Plenty of places have a no phones policy when you are at your desk or in a meeting, I've got mates you can't contact during the day unless you ring their work number because their employer has rules about phones and social media

 

[Scotland]

Why send kids to school at all? Just let them stay home and Snapchat all day. If nothing else it will make Gen Z look less hopeless by comparison.

 

[Scotland]

so you're unemployed or work from home then?

Plenty of places have a no phones policy when you are at your desk or in a meeting, I've got mates you can't contact during the day unless you ring their work number because their employer has rules about phones and social media

I met a girl that worked for Samsung in the US. There you have to have the camera effectively disabled on your phone with a seal provided by the company. You go to leave at the end of the day and the seal is broken and they go through your phone.

 

[Jobe Watson]

You don't need a mobile phone at school in class. Do you not think it would be easier for teachers to just walk into a class room knowing 25-30 kids don't have phones rather than knowing all of them do and some or all will be playing them during the lesson? Smartphones are pretty distracting.

You don't need it, but it can certainly be beneficial. It's a calculator, a note taker and an encyclopedia all in one. And they're going to be using it at university and in the workplace for the next 50 years of their life. Instead of banning it, why not teach the kids how to harness it?

If you to the movies (which is a lot darker than a classroom) they now tell you to turn your phones off. It's gone past ring tones and that irritating tapping noise that they make when you text, a 5 inch screen blaring 4 million lumen is annoying. You think if I'm sitting on my phone watching Youtube with headphones in that's not going to distract Billy next to me from his long division?

Yeah but they don't confiscate them at the door. They trust that people can be responsible and won't act like little children. And if someone breaks the rules they get kicked out. Why should a classroom full of 17/18 year olds be any different?

Most VCE kids want to do the best work they can because it's going to affect their future. Treating them like babies isn't going to breed much mutual respect between teacher and student. Of course kids watching the NBA finals instead of working isn't great, but why not treat the phone as a reward? Do 45 minutes of solid classwork and then you can have the last 5-10 minutes of the class to goof off on your phones.

Surely this isn't even any different from the workplace? Would you rather work for a company that blocks your access to BigFooty and Facebook during working hours, or one that lets you have a bit of free reign so long as you complete your work?

Will kids use them when they aren't allowed to? Of course. Kids aren't supposed to smoke or leave school grounds or finger Brittany behind the bike shed but they do it anyway. Kids being against a rule at school is a weak argument for not having the rule.

But the whole point of the rule is to benefit the kids. If they are going to rebel against it then what is the point? Teachers already have the power to ban phones from their classrooms. I think the cyberbullying thing is a bit of a stretch too. It's not like kids aren't going to do that **** on Facebook at 8 at night.

 

[Gralin]

I met a girl that worked for Samsung in the US. There you have to have the camera effectively disabled on your phone with a seal provided by the company. You go to leave at the end of the day and the seal is broken and they go through your phone.

be easier just taking them off them when they get there and handing them back when they leave I would have thought

plenty of place I have to go to that do that, make you power down and leave it in a lock box while you are there