Recently, “06880” introduced a new feature. “Students Speak” gives Westport students a voice on any issue important to their lives.
Will Enquist
Today, Will Enquist looks at Staples High School’s “cellphone ban.” It actually includes more than phones.
A Staples High School senior, managing editor of Inklings, and a member of both the Westport Youth Commission and “06880” board, he enjoys reading the Wall Street Journal, and watching the New England Patriots “slowly regain relevance.”
He plans to major in political science, and contribute to his college’s newspaper. Will writes:
As I took refuge from a chill fall breeze inside the warm halls of Staples High on November 5, I was greeted with a sight unseen over the past decade: Not a single student was using their cell phone.
On that day a “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban, first proposed by Superintendent Scarice and later approved by the Board of Education, was implemented.
Despite the student body’s fervor in the days leading up to the phone ban, my Wednesday was rather typical. Like many Staples students, my phone has never really been a distraction in class. However, during my lunch period I first noticed one of its unintended consequences.
As I sat down in the library, I put in my AirPods – equipped with noise cancellation – to block out the buzz during lunch, a volume comparable to Madison Square Garden during the NBA playoffs.
I was 90 seconds into Beethoven’s 6th Symphony and my calculus homework when a faculty member politely asked that I remove my wireless headphones.
I was suddenly reminded of one of the less reasonable stipulations of the ban: In addition to cellphones and smartwatches, students are prohibited from using wireless headphones during the school day.
Interestingly, it is this aspect of the policy — the ban on widely popular wireless headphones like AirPods — that has spurred the most criticism. Students and teachers alike express confusion about why devices that often complement or enhance learning have been strictly forbidden.
Before I continue, I should note that I am a supporter of the phone ban. I believe the superintendent and Staples administration have pursued it with every intention of improving school culture, focus and academic achievement.
However, I believe prohibiting the use of wireless headphones is a significant misstep in the design of the policy.
The administration’s central argument for banning wireless headphones, as I understand it, is that students who might still have their phones on them (in violation of the new policy) could use their headphones to have incoming notifications read to them.
This is not consistent with how I know Staples students to use wireless headphones. Before the ban headphones were most often used for listening to music, canceling out distracting background noise, and listening to teacher-assigned videos or podcasts – all legitimate uses of the technology that support learning.
I have never known of a student using wireless headphones to secretly receive notifications, especially considering that responding to any notification would require verbally dictating a message into their headphones, something immediately apparent to any teacher.
The misuse the policy aims to prevent appears far less common than the productive and legitimate uses it now restricts.
The ability to watch educational videos, listen to music, and cut out distracting ambient noise has been vital to my productivity during school hours and, by extension, my academic success.
Shortly after learning about the new restrictions on wireless headphones, I began researching wired alternatives with active noise cancellation. However, most headphones advertised as “wired” with noise-canceling capabilities are expensive wireless models that include a wired option.
While my summer job may equip me with the means to afford this option, it feels awfully wasteful and fiscally irresponsible to squander that money when I already own perfectly good AirPod Pros that the policy now restricts.
Ultimately, the goal of the phone ban is one I genuinely support: create a school environment where students are more focused on and connected to their classroom community.
For the phone ban to be effective, however, it must accurately differentiate between tools that detract from learning and those that support it. For the vast majority of students, wireless headphones fall into the latter category.
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