Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives as of late, and with that comes issues with school. As a device that can fit into your pocket, it has become a distraction to students when teachers are having class. This has led to teachers introducing different methods to incentivize students to stay off their phones and focus more on their classes. 

But should they be able to do this?

A student’s phone is their property and while having it out in the middle of class is against school rules, that doesn’t mean that teachers should be allowed to take them from students at the start of class. While phones can be a distraction from class, the student has to make the choice to put effort into the class, and the student that is on their phone isn’t putting effort into their class, which ruins their grade, which will mean they will likely have to take the class again.

In some schools, teachers have offered extra credit to students for putting their phones in a cubby at the beginning of class. While this can be seen as free points from students with phones, if a student doesn’t have a phone in the class, it can prevent them from having the same opportunity as everyone else.

The only time a teacher should be able to take a phone is if a student has been actively ignoring the lessons the teacher is giving just to be on their phone, mainly due to the student disobeying the school’s rules along with the teacher’s personal rules against phone use in class.

A possible solution to the issue of phone use in the classroom would be to somewhat incorporate phones into schools in ways like researching topics through phones or apps that can enhance the learning experience, which will make phones less of a distraction and more of a classroom tool.