Should schools ban cellphones?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 September 2024
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
As students return to school, more states and districts are cracking down on cellphones. But not everyone agrees. On “Post Reports,” we hear how things look on the frontlines of this battle.
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A few years ago, Jennifer Rosenzweig’s high school students gave her a strange nickname: the “Bucket Lady.” That’s because Rosenzweig, an English teacher at Scarsdale High School in New York state, saw students increasingly on their cellphones, including in class, and having trouble focusing. Her solution? Have students drop their phones in a bucket before class.
Today, Rosenzweig is no longer the sole phone cop at her school, which now has a caddy on every classroom door, with pockets that students drop their phones into as they enter.
New policies like this are spreading at schools throughout the United States, with pressure coming from teachers and parents who see phones as a distraction, an impediment to learning and a burden on students’ mental health.
Host Martine Powers speaks with national education reporter Laura Meckler about the growing battle over phones in schools and the different opinions on the correct approach.
Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff with help from Ted Muldoon and Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Karina Elwood and Chastity Pratt.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A few years ago, Jennifer Rosenzweig's high school students started calling her a weird nickname, |
| 0:09.0 | the Bucket Lady. |
| 0:11.0 | I used to stand in the hallway with a bucket and the kids I mean so I have some |
| 0:16.0 | seniors now who had me as freshman I said remember the bucket days. |
| 0:19.2 | Rosen's Weig teaches English at Scarsdale High School in New York State. She's been a teacher for almost 20 years, but about a decade ago, she says things really changed. |
| 0:30.0 | She started noticing kids were on their phones all day at lunch and in class. |
| 0:36.0 | They were having a hard time focusing and to her they seemed really stressed. |
| 0:41.0 | When the phones are on their bodies, not their fault, if you don't take them off their bodies, |
| 0:46.9 | they're getting buzzes and beeps and notifications all of the time. |
| 0:50.6 | It's just overwhelming. |
| 0:53.0 | So she came up with a solution. |
| 0:55.8 | The bucket. |
| 0:57.2 | And so every time, like every day before class, she would like stand out in the hallway with |
| 1:02.2 | her like clear bucket and we just like drop |
| 1:04.2 | our phones in and then she would like put them on her desk and she would hold them until the end of |
| 1:08.8 | class. |
| 1:09.8 | That's Hannah Cass. She is 16 years old, a senior. She had Miss Rosensweig in ninth and 10th |
| 1:15.9 | grades. She's in our class again this year. |
| 1:18.7 | And she would just like talk about how like mindful like the whole thing was and like how important it is to like separate from your device |
| 1:26.0 | and how there's useful times for devices and then how there's not so useful times. |
| 1:30.5 | Rosen's Weig did not enjoy being the only phone cop. times. a school-wide ban to help students. |
| 1:43.0 | We're in charge of them for seven hours of the day, |
... |
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