Cell Phone Bans Need Admin Backup — It's Worth It
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses why teachers need administrator support to enforce cell phone bans, and why the effort is worth it to give kids their childhood back.
Key Takeaways
- Teachers can't enforce bans alone - Without consistent administrative backing, phone policies collapse under student pushback
- Admin support makes the difference - When administrators consistently uphold phone-free policies, teachers can focus on instruction
- Kids deserve a phone-free childhood - Removing phones from the school day creates space for real social development and learning
Transcript
So lots of schools are banning cell phones.
Lots of districts, states, whole countries are banning cell phones.
And I haven't heard a single case where it's not going well.
And if it's not going well in any particular school, let me tell you what's probably going wrong.
What's probably happening in a school that has banned cell phones poorly is that they're not enforcing it, right?
You cannot have a ban.
You cannot have any kind of rule if you don't have enforcement.
And enforcement is not pleasant.
Like nobody really enjoys enforcement.
It's not a fun thing, but you have to do it.
And if you have a school rule, like no cell phones during the school day, you have to know what you're going to do.
You have to have a plan for what you're going to do when students break that rule and students challenge that rule.
And it's normal for them to challenge rules, right?
It is normal for kids to test boundaries and see if the adults that are responsible for them are really serious.
So we have to be serious.
We have to have a plan in place.
We have to have a consequence in place.
And the schools that are failing in their cell phone bans are leaving it up to every individual teacher.
And they're basically telling them, good luck taking away a kid's phone, coming up with a consequence for them.
There's no administrative backup for the teacher.
So the teacher has to be the bad guy.
And of course, that's not the job of a teacher.
The job of a teacher is not to be a bad guy.
That's why we have administrators to be the bad guy, to enforce the consequences of when a student is not following the rules.
So of course we need everybody on board.
We need teachers to not be exceptions to the rule.
And of course, if people are being like the nice teacher to try to kind of win points with students, that's not going to work out well.
But ultimately it has to be administrative support for backing up and enforcing a cell phone ban.
And when schools do that, they find incredible results.
They find that students are able to focus.
They don't have as many issues with bullying.
They don't have as many issues with fights on campus.
They don't have as much drama.
They have kids actually talking to each other in the hallways.
Keeping phones off and away during passing period and lunch is a great idea too.
Kids actually sit together and talk to one another at lunch instead of just staring at their phones all the time.
So we've got a big opportunity here and it's great to see how many jurisdictions are taking advantage of that opportunity to give kids their childhood back, to give kids their adolescence back and take it back from the screens.
Let me know what you think.