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French schoolchildren will have to leave their smartphones switched off or at home as the new academic year begins in September, after lawmakers voted for a ban on Monday.
The ban on smartphones, tablets and other connected devices, which will apply to pupils up to the age of 14-15, fulfils[sic] a campaign promise by centrist President Emmanuel Macron, while being derided as "cosmetic" by the opposition.
MPs of Macron's centrist LREM party and its allies gave final approval to the bill, while lawmakers on the left and right abstained from the vote, calling the law a "publicity stunt" that would change nothing.
Under the new law, schools may make exceptions for "pedagogical use", extra-curricular activities, or for disabled pupils.
Secondary schools for their part can decide individually whether to impose a partial or total ban on connected devices.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jmorris on Wednesday August 01 2018, @11:44PM (12 children)
All the 'smart' people, the ones who ruined the world, are laughing. In a couple of years we will see whether results improve or not. There probably isn't even a theory where education is impaired by a lack of access to Instagram and worse. So what is the downside to running this experiment? Kids having phones in school is less than twenty years old as a thing, smartphones less than a decade yet to listen to morons kids won't be able to live a meaningful existence without regular hits from the LoJack in their pocket. It will be just fine.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:47AM (11 children)
I'm not sure it will "be just fine." I mean, it will be something. I don't think the human race is headed for extinction or civilization is going to end because of smartphones.
But I look at behavior of ADULTS now, and it's weird. Yes, things like telegraphs and telephones and radio and television and whatever changed socialization patterns, but smartphones have fundamentally changed human social dynamics on a much more continuous and basic level.
I've been out to dinner with people in their 40s who mostly just sit around and play on Facebook and whatever random stuff for mostly of their dinner. Why bother "having dinner WITH" someone else if you're not going to bother communicating with the people you're with?
I'm not saying it's necessarily all bad. This isn't a doom and gloom post. But smartphones are that addictive and disruptive even during time when you're actively supposed to be engaging socially with others for pleasure. It has a huge effect on a learning environment.
I've been teaching at both the secondary and tertiary levels for the past couple decades, and I've really noticed changes. Not just "I'm old, get off my lawn!" kind of opinions (from me and my colleagues at a number of institutions) -- technology in classrooms can be used for good, but random disruptions all the time are... well, disruptive. Surprise! Multitasking by humans has basically shown to be a myth in multiple studies. You get distracted and you lose focus on the task at hand. You do that enough, and learning suffers.
Now, I haven't looked into the details of this policy or its implications, so I don't know whether it's a good idea. But the idea that unguided smartphone use in a learning environment can't have negative consequences... Sorry, but my anecdotal evidence (and that from lots of colleagues who actually spend time in classrooms) says they have already been showing effects.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 02 2018, @02:15AM (4 children)
So - if a young woman attempts to lose her virginity, but fails to tweet about it - is she still a virgin?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @02:29AM
You are the most Amurrican zen philosopher.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:52PM (2 children)
Was the attempt successful? The answer to that question would seem to correlate with your question.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 02 2018, @02:19PM (1 child)
You might think so, but I have this theory. Some other woman is impregnated the night before she departs on a flight into destiny. The plane crash lands on some desert island, and she is the sole survivor of the crash. She is stranded there for years - maybe even decades. Yes - OF COURSE she got pregnant the night before the flight. But, with no other women to talk to, the pregnancy cannot advance. She's just stuck with this fertilized egg, waiting for the opportunity to talk it into existence as an embryo, and then a baby. Finally, she is rescued, and she is given the opportunity to phone home to Mama, Big Sister, Little Sister, Cousin Mae, etc. Then, it's like WHAM!!! That little egg finally develops in the space of several seconds, she delivers the baby, and that baby grows right before her eyes into a teenaged kid. Just, WHAM!!
I strongly suspect that a human female who is unable to communicate her first sexual encounter to another human female may still be a virgin. At least until the communication takes place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @02:32PM
I just can't help myself... I tried but am compelled to advance the notion that you just described the theory of Schrodinger's Cat. Only use a different term for the feline.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:46PM (4 children)
Do they really permit kids to sit there and play on their phones?
Yeah I know it was decades ago but we were not allowed to play DnD during class lectures, or pass notes, pr even play tic tac toe, for example. Have teachers simply given up on classroom discipline entirely or just WRT phone use?
I would theorize if they've given up on discipline, the phone thing is a mere symptom and not much will improve by playing games banning phones.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 02 2018, @04:04PM (1 child)
Please note, a lot of educators are liberals. As such, it's all about how little Johnny or little Suzie is Feeling. Not about how letting a child go undisciplined will end up making them an entitled little brat. Who may or may not learn their lesson in the long run. Yes, behavior modification works with ignoring the bad deeds and rewarding them for their good deeds. That doesn't help raise someone who cares about others. The kind of "discipline" that is popular now, will help raise someone who is selfish. Someone who cares about others won't steal, murder, abuse, or be intentionally harmful to others. Someone who is selfish, may or may not be predisposed to stealing, murdering, abusing, or harming others to get what they want. Product of current discipline methods Exhibit A: Martin Shkreli.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @04:55PM
My my you really don't know your opposition. By your logic all you conservative types only teach creationism and your spiritual leaders keep sodomizing kids. I'll take your liberal straw man over those dummies any day.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday August 02 2018, @08:58PM (1 child)
Well, I did say that I've taught in both secondary and tertiary (i.e., college/university) environments. I've sometimes taught in lecture halls with well over a hundred students. It's not really possible to police them for all electronic device usage unless you outright ban them and have an army of teaching assistants to enforce it.
(Sidenote: The culture around these devices in college environments seems to have changed radically just in the past 2-4 years. I've heard this from multiple people at multiple institutions, who have had to introduce clauses in their syllabuses banning use of electronic devices in class, when before it simply wasn't usually a problem. Laptops have obviously been around and often used by students in classes for a couple decades now, but the distraction factor of smartphones seems to be getting worse over time.)
As for secondary school, it's often a problem of constant vigilance. Kids often have phones in their pockets and sneak looks at them. Sure, they did the same with notes or tic-tac-toe, but the difference is that the phone is constantly updating and showing new content on its screen -- unlike the notes and tic-tac-toe which only show something new if another student interacts with a piece of paper... which tends to be more noticeable in class. Sneaking a look at a phone periodically isn't often as noticeable.
I'm not saying it's an entirely different problem, but given the ubiquity of electronic devices, it's an issue.
Again, I haven't looked into the details of this policy or how it will be implemented. But it may also be done for simple consistency's sake. I've taught at schools where even before smartphones existed, school policy said cell phones were never to be outside of bags (e.g., backpacks) when in a classroom or could risk confiscation. But if you don't have a policy like that across the board, what you tend to see are teachers who are more or less lenient, and student's behavior then shifts as they try to get away with things even in classes where the teacher maintains more discipline.
I personally don't think this is the sort of thing that should have a national government action policy, but is it potentially useful to have a consistent policy on where and when smartphones are allowed and how they are (or are not) allowed to be used? I'd say yes.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday August 02 2018, @09:00PM
(To clarify the last sentence, I meant consistent across a school or something... rather than dictated by government.)
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday August 02 2018, @09:34PM
Likely because they are too busy on their "smart" phones to be bothered preparing a meal themselves.