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posted by chromas on Wednesday August 01 2018, @11:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the bans dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 03 2018, @03:04AM (6 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 03 2018, @03:04AM (#716533) Journal
    You should try to see my point. It's a common abuse of government power for people to settle simple disagreements or conflicts with a ridiculous and myopically applied amount of government power. The more we use government to handle stuff which would resolve itself anyway, the more abusive and capriciously applied that government power will become.

    But maybe it's a mistake on my part to argue with people who don't get that a matter, which is simply settled by the teacher taking the phone away, doesn't require the French government to get involved.
  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday August 03 2018, @06:30AM (5 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday August 03 2018, @06:30AM (#716573)

    My kids, in the US, are in school with a few kids who go to the principal's office multiple times a week, and still don't give a shit and talk back. That's in a pretty nice area.
    Expelling doesn't mean anything to someone who knows you have to take them back, so it's vacation until it's time to disturb class again.
    Having the ability to scare (or try to) a kid who doesn't care about the principal, by putting him in front of a police officer who is grumpy since he'd rather be the kind of things he became a cop for, is an extra tool that few, maybe none, will ever resort to (neither the principal nor the cop would want to fill the paperwork). But it's an extra tool, giving solid legal ground to the "no phones" school rule.

    It's mostly politicians parading. It's most likely barely gonna get used. But there must have been enough cases reported to make them wake up from their naps and pass something that they believe will not be totally turned into a mockery.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 03 2018, @12:20PM (4 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 03 2018, @12:20PM (#716648) Journal

      are in school with a few kids who go to the principal's office multiple times a week, and still don't give a shit and talk back

      I'm sure a few years in jail will cure them of that tendency and the spectacle of the kid being hauled off by police will put fear in the rest. We can't have our citizens questioning authority. OR we could fire this principal and/or teacher and find someone who can figure out how to deal with back-talking kids.

      Expelling doesn't mean anything to someone who knows you have to take them back, so it's vacation until it's time to disturb class again.

      Which can be next school year. The solutions don't have to be permanent. And I have no problem rewarding such students with as much expulsion as they can get until they're old enough to drop out.

      Having the ability to scare (or try to) a kid who doesn't care about the principal, by putting him in front of a police officer who is grumpy since he'd rather be the kind of things he became a cop for, is an extra tool that few, maybe none, will ever resort to (neither the principal nor the cop would want to fill the paperwork).

      Only the petty tyrants would do that. Fortunately, there are plenty of them in US school systems to jail students for equally petty discipline problems.

      It's mostly politicians parading. It's most likely barely gonna get used. But there must have been enough cases reported to make them wake up from their naps and pass something that they believe will not be totally turned into a mockery.

      No, it doesn't have to be. Your faith in politicians is touching.

      I'll note here that I'm not speaking in a vacuum. In the US, there are a lot of areas that have made "sexting", the distribution of sexually explicit images of oneself by cell phone text, illegal. Thus, when a school catches students distributing images of boobs, penises, etc, they can throw those students to the mercy of the police and court system. For example [reason.com]:

      After public school officials in Cañon City, Colorado, discovered at least 100 students had been using their cellphones to swap nude photos of themselves, the Associated Press reported that "it could take a month to sort the offenders from the victims." Part of the challenge is that Colorado, like many states, makes no such distinction: If you are under 18 and take a sexually suggestive picture of yourself, you are both victim and offender.

      Thom LeDoux, the district attorney, says he does not plan to treat all of the Cañon City High School students involved in sexting as child pornographers, and "it is possible there will be no criminal charges filed at all." But teenagers who exchange consensually produced pictures should not have to rely on prosecutorial forbearance to avoid being branded as sex offenders.

      Under Colorado law, producing or distributing sexually explicit images of a minor is a Class 3 felony, punishable by four to 12 years in prison. Merely possessing such pictures is a Class 6 felony, punishable by 12 to 18 months in prison. Possession becomes a Class 4 felony, punishable by two to six years in prison, if it involves video or more than 20 still images.

      In addition to the criminal penalties, people convicted of these crimes have to register as sex offenders. "I take the implication of that very seriously and would urge that only if I felt it was absolutely necessary," LeDoux said.

      In other words, a bunch of students took naughty pictures of themselves and now, the force of the law will be selectively applied to the students that the authorities don't like. This French law is just more of that nonsense.

      What I find particularly remarkable about this thread is how the people defending the practice of making cell phones illegal in the classroom have done nothing to justify their opinion - neither to explain why the force of law is acceptable for basic discipline issues in the classroom nor how such laws would improve the situation. They just keep insisting that we oughta have a law.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday August 03 2018, @04:19PM (3 children)

        by bob_super (1357) on Friday August 03 2018, @04:19PM (#716777)

        Would you rather have mutually agreed contracts ?
        (grin)

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:08AM (2 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 04 2018, @03:08AM (#717093) Journal
          Yes. Works really well for college.
          • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday August 04 2018, @05:51AM (1 child)

            by bob_super (1357) on Saturday August 04 2018, @05:51AM (#717144)

            The dumb new law applies to 6-16 yr-olds.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 05 2018, @10:44PM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 05 2018, @10:44PM (#717649) Journal

              The dumb new law applies to 6-16 yr-olds.

              Does this particular age bracket need more oppressing? Seems to me the world (and France in particular) is already amply oppressing them. I'm stuck on the original premise. Why exactly do we need a law to do a teacher's job?