With a price tag of $1.3 million, you might think that education, as measured by student debt, was worth something. Instead, those who are most vocal about the wonders of education tend to keep spawning students who show many signs of becoming clones of Donald Trump.... boistrous, self-absorbed, and irresponsible... not exactly educated.
Liberals spawning mini-Donald's .... it has a ring to it.
The average student uses his or her cell phone for nine hours a day, not including school work. S/he spends more time texting and gaming than s/he does with parents. S/he is enmeshed in the suggestion that social media like Twitter and Facebook do indeed draw us all closer together. Instead, of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Social media drive people down their own rabbit holes and leave them confused that they are lonely and suicidal. Did you ever try to get laid on Facebook?
I think it would be a good idea if today's grown-ups grew up and banned cell phones in schools. I can hear the righteous cavorting around crying, "Freedom of speech." But institutions of all sorts -- roads, sporting events, hospitals, etc. -- have rules. Why not schools? Why not no-cell-phones? Yes, there are those who might have nervous breakdowns without all their 'friends.' But who knows, they might make some real friends.
It's dubious that grown-ups will grow up and pronounce the word "no" in schools. For one thing, they too have bought into the ersatz connectedness that Donald Trump espouses. (Tell me just one person who is Donald Trump's honest-to-God friend). But schools can set aside, say, one hour per school day, where teachers and students may use their phones before returning to the work premised in classrooms .... education.
Tweets create twits who buy into a social matrix that hardly deserves the word 'social.' Is freedom of speech to extend to idiot speech as well? Well, of course it is ... but only during the prescribed hour in the school house. And if there is an honest emergency, let the school office field it and inform the appropriate student that s/he has a call.
I don't know ... it sounds like a plan to me. And yes, I am a big fan of the ACLU.
Liberals spawning mini-Donald's .... it has a ring to it.
The average student uses his or her cell phone for nine hours a day, not including school work. S/he spends more time texting and gaming than s/he does with parents. S/he is enmeshed in the suggestion that social media like Twitter and Facebook do indeed draw us all closer together. Instead, of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Social media drive people down their own rabbit holes and leave them confused that they are lonely and suicidal. Did you ever try to get laid on Facebook?
I think it would be a good idea if today's grown-ups grew up and banned cell phones in schools. I can hear the righteous cavorting around crying, "Freedom of speech." But institutions of all sorts -- roads, sporting events, hospitals, etc. -- have rules. Why not schools? Why not no-cell-phones? Yes, there are those who might have nervous breakdowns without all their 'friends.' But who knows, they might make some real friends.
It's dubious that grown-ups will grow up and pronounce the word "no" in schools. For one thing, they too have bought into the ersatz connectedness that Donald Trump espouses. (Tell me just one person who is Donald Trump's honest-to-God friend). But schools can set aside, say, one hour per school day, where teachers and students may use their phones before returning to the work premised in classrooms .... education.
Tweets create twits who buy into a social matrix that hardly deserves the word 'social.' Is freedom of speech to extend to idiot speech as well? Well, of course it is ... but only during the prescribed hour in the school house. And if there is an honest emergency, let the school office field it and inform the appropriate student that s/he has a call.
I don't know ... it sounds like a plan to me. And yes, I am a big fan of the ACLU.
For someone who not too long ago wrote and gave himself a gold star about looking at things from more than one perspective we certainly don't see any of that here. Instead we are given vague in referenced assertions and an unarticulated opinion attributed to an even vaguer liberal point of view.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is troubling that our governmental system permitted an unqualified man to become president. Part of the problem with this man is his use of social media. But the problem is with the man's expressed opinions and not the media.
Appropriate use of electronic devices and social media are areas worth considering in the 21st century.
Now truth be told I'd bet cell phone usage closer by millennials and younger is closer to 100% of their waking hours. This is still an evolving personal and social phenomena; we don't know where it will go. I say let's watch it carefully.
Banning. Confiscating. Removing. Why is this an answer? An answer to what! You seem to have an idea about but never let us in on the secret.
Is there a reason a teacher or an employer can't say please put all cell phones, tablets and computers away because the lesson or work objective requires it. We have objectives or tasks requiring full attention such as learning a language, dissecting a frog, or servicing a client.
If there are non-complying students or workers deal with them with respect on a case by case basis.
Know that the average smart phone is over 100 million times more powerful than the computers used in the early days of space exploration.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/ztswg82)
Teachers, curriculum creators and employers would do well to help students and employees utilities that pocket power in their studies and duties instead of forcing them to do things in a certain arbitrary manner.
You say "appropriate use". In my experience things like appropriateness, responsibility, impulse control, all come through time and difficulty. Doing without something gives one a perspective on having it that can't exist otherwise. How much time should a teacher take away from teaching to deal with case by case infractions that might have been left on a shelf by the door.
DeleteAnd then there's this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjgDYyR0m4
Another opinion -- You pin my ears back fairly enough. I got hoist, in one sense, by my own blabber-mouth petard.
ReplyDeleteCiting every study (the nine hours of usage comes from http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/03/health/teens-tweens-media-screen-use-report/index.html) gets tiring and sometimes I am as tired as a Donald Trump supporter.
Written words, when examined, separate and confuse ... see Donald Trump.
My 'unstated' thesis is that if we're going to burden people with $1.3 trillion in debt (look it up), the least we could do is offer a clarified goal ... some idea of what bang anyone might be getting for the buck. Since schools are partially in the socializing business, things that detract from socializing strike me as counter-productive. So ... how about defining schools as places where, tough shit, you will learn what schools determine is worth learning. And let there be a 'free speech' hour someplace in the day for those who need to get their addiction on.
Oh well ... not very well argued. Thanks for pointing it out.
There's a school of opinion to which I subscribe: Class Size Matters. Some who subscribe to this well research idea have even created a potitical group to which I formally belonged to for a time. If a community would subscribe to this one idea (yes, like the better private schools) most class control issue fall aside.
ReplyDeleteGroup control in school is an issue worth examining and discussing; for some teacher / student groupings class control can indeed be time consuming.
In my opinion, a large part of K-12 or even K through College Graduation is about SELF-DISCIPLINE. The above post, in my mind, tries to use brute force to control a very important issue for reasons that are not clearly spelled out.