Every Chapman student has heard the same “no phones” conversation multiple times every school year. 

Our teachers consistently say that they are trying to prepare us for college; however, they’re contradicting themselves by taking our phones — which could potentially happen in the workforce or college but very rarely does. 

I do believe, for the most part, that teachers have our best interests at heart. They just want us to focus in class so that we can be successful, not just in high school, but also post-graduation. 

But shouldn’t we take that responsibility? After talking with many students, I find that they agree with me that the responsibility should be placed on us. 

In our annual class meeting, Principal Matt Davis told us that we are responsible for our belongings. For example, if we let a friend borrow our phone, earbuds, pencil or anything else that we owned, it was our fault if they lost it or refused to give it back. 

So the administrators tell us that we’re responsible for our belongings; however, they can take our phones whenever they want and for however long they want. 

Another issue phoneless students face is free time in class. Our classes are 90 minutes, which is a very long time. Some students are able to finish work early. Students can’t pick who’s in their class but they also can’t change their classes just to be with their friends, so what do they do with their free time in class? Not everyone is extroverted and can talk to people they don’t know. It makes for a very uncomfortable situation for students to sit there with nothing to do and nobody to talk to.

Although we are very lucky to even have our own Chromebooks, they are a hassle to get out, and on top of that, the school Wi-Fi is very slow. 

Most students have cellular data on their phones which makes using the internet a lot easier. Of course, students are not always in a rush, especially because of our long class times; however, it’s very common for students to have to do their work quickly. Whether it be work during our short Flex Time, makeup work or homework at the end of class, we need a dependable internet connection, and our phones are more likely to give us that.

There are many issues with not having our phones in class, all of which are very different and affect all different types of students. It does more harm than good for teachers to take our phones during class.