Cell phones at school? No, let’s leave them at home

 

The weekly column “Professor between desks,” edited by Alberto Introini, will talk about school, education, and learning, commenting on the current news that will follow in the next few weeks.

Rules without sanctions

The cell phone topic has always been a matter of discussion in the school world, as well as in the majority of families. The start of this new school year was characterized by a lively discussion. Of a sample of 3000 students from middle and high school, according to a survey by skuola.net, over 70% of them have received official bans and indications put to paper in administrative circulars and communications to families. It’s almost never a surprise, but those are restrictions that have been in place for a long time in various schools. So, the rules do exist, but, as can happen in other areas of civilized life, they aren’t seriously enforced, or the fines are so soft that they are irrelevant. In fact, following an improper use of the phone in class, in 3 out of 4 cases the student receives a written reprimand, at the most a warning in the school transcript. Only 25% of the students declare to have received the most dreaded punishment: cell phone confiscation. Cell phone, which usually remains in the principal’s office for one or two days at the most. Later, the families themselves usually ask for the phone be returned, in an educational short circuit where the collaboration between schools and families is missing.

Who do you have to call?

There are two sets of questions. Who does the average student need to call during the 5 or 6 hours he spends at school? And who needs to call them when they are in class? The answer is one and only one: nobody. Even because in any case of emergency, in every school you can ask for help in every secretary office and reception. Here, the classic quote “back in my days we didn’t have a cell phone” is not just a nostalgic rhetoric that young people can’t understand; I say it too, even if I’m only half a generation older than my students.

Every school has many rules and detailed instructions in place; however, the system does not totally work. In the end, the mobile phone will always be used everywhere, at least during the break. In addition, we often hear in the news about some non-authorized videos, which represent a chargeable risk even for a minor. Every school should have the courage to follow the only rule of common sense, even though it is strict: phones must not be taken to school. For truly important notices between child and parent and for emergencies (meaning non-usual and non-daily events), the phone of the school administrative office is always available.

Social network disorder

Let’s face it: to young people and to adults alike, the mobile phone has by now become a tool used not only to make and receive phone calls but also to manage many other different kinds of communication. It is also used for activities that are not purely related to communication, like, taking photos, banking operations, shopping, and making reservations. Therefore, why do students have to bring their mobile phones to school, considering that they have no need to call anyone 199 days out of 200? As soon as break time comes, or even in secret during some boring lessons, they cannot resist the urge to check their social network accounts (above all Instagram and Tik Tok). I believe that “urge” is the right word because it is something not strictly rational and not manageable.

Urge (“impulse,” in the original text) means, according to the Latin etymology, “something that is pushed out” and that bursts without any barrier. In these last few years, it has become a serious addiction, sometimes even a pathology when there are no more barriers. Therefore, even without a real ban in schools, why doesn’t a parent protect their child from this disorder by making him or her leave their mobile phone at home?

Alberto Introini, after teaching in various high schools in the province of Varese, in 2008 became a professor of Italian and history at the Istituto Elvetico of Lugano, Switzerland. He has two degrees: in literature and philosophy (2002, State University of Milan) and history (2022, University of Zug, Switzerland). He has been a member of the Order of Journalists of Milan since 2004, and he has published four books. He often participates as a speaker or moderator at different cultural events in the north of Italy. His weekly column, “Il Prof tra i banchi,” will be about school themes, teaching, and education, and he will comment on the current affairs that will unfold over the coming weeks.

Translated by Nigro Rebecca and Franzè Ludovica

Reviewed by Regano Matteo