Dear Editor:
RE: New provincial cell phone restrictions have no impact on local school board practices, Nov. 7.
I enjoyed reading this article by Jaime Myslik. As a current Grade 12 high school student, you may think I might not be the best person to speak out about how a classroom should be run, but that’s where you’re wrong.
I completely disagree with Stephen Leece, minister of education, when he talks about how restricting cell phones is a “step forward in creating an academically-enriched learning environment.” This is the complete opposite of what is actually happening.
By banning mobile devices, it is actually a step away from helping the students learn. App creators for phones are trying to create “edtech” to help students learn more in this advancing technological age. Phone apps like iTunes U, Duolingo, or Cite This For Me are all great ways to advance a students way of learning. By restricting phones, however, the students are pulled away from the easily accessible knowledge that phones provide.
When it comes to using devices in the classroom, it should always be at the discretion of the teacher or educator. Taking away devices from those who misbehave and misuse them, won’t help the situation. Those students will find something else to use and still remain distracted and distract others, and that is the truth because I have witnessed it in my own classes.
I strongly believe that it is up to the teachers and faculty to have control over these restrictions. If the teacher is able to understand how a few students misuse the devices, then they should be punished.
But if the teacher recognizes that some students actually are using it to benefit their learning, then taking it away from them will only push away their chance of growing in knowledge.
Zachary Kroezen,
Fergus