Phone beds should not be used in classrooms

Photo Credit: Unsplash
Though one privilege of high school is an increased use of cell phones, teachers have recently responded by implementing “phone beds”- clear shoe pockets that are utilized to confiscate students’ phones without even a warning.

In my experience, this system is popular among my teachers, and both my peers’ and my own phones visit the phone beds multiple times per day.

As someone who rarely uses their phone during class, I find that the new phone beds introduce negativity in the classroom and break the trust between teachers and students. I by no means preach that I have a right to use my cell phone during a lesson, but can find it to be insulting to my own professionalism when I am forced to abide by a punishment for the entire class when I myself am not an offender.

I agree with my teachers in confiscating cell phones when they interfere with learning. After all, having a cell phone is a privilege, not a right. As much as education may seem monotonous, it’s in the student’s best interest. However, it is ridiculous to assume that every single student is taking advantage of the teacher’s trust not to be using their phone when they shouldn’t be.

I personally love learning new things, and thus don’t frequent my cell phone during the school day. Nevertheless, each day I am required to abandon my own property because the teacher doesn’t have enough faith in us to control ourselves.

Though that may sound extreme, I am perfectly capable of being separated from my cell phone. While I am indifferent about being away from my phone, the context of why I am separated from it is an issue.

Even from a teacher’s standpoint, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand generalized punishments. The whole “punishing everyone” thing is extremely outdated. For one, it doesn’t teach students any lesson- not taking responsibility for their actions, nor consequence. It just lumps everybody together, shakes a finger at them, and disallows any type of lesson to be learned.

Aside from that, generalized punishments discourage privileges from the students who haven’t taken advantage of them. Not only does that seem unfair, but it also may make them feel as though their teacher doesn’t trust them.

The student-teacher relationship is a huge part of education.Using myself as an example, I have found that proactively communicating with teachers shows them responsibility, maturity, and trustworthiness, and thus allows negotiation. Without mutual trust between the student and their teacher, getting through the school day becomes that much more difficult.

From this, it is clear that a sure way to eliminate that trust is through the implementation of phone beds- a generalized punishment that, when taken into perspective, can lead to bigger educational issues down the line.