As a parent of a child at Armidale Secondary College, I think it’s time we have a conversation about how the mobile phone ban is wrong.
If our kids were safe at school, then all those high and mighty reasons for banning phones might apply. But as noted in the story about this week’s lockdown, lots of kids still have their phones and it’s just another way the school system can bully our kids and plays favourites.
Not long after the ban on phones in school was introduced, I heard my eldest telling my youngest about some places in the school that were not safe to go, and a warning about not picking up dropped pencils. When I asked her about it, she explained it, but also dismissed it as being normal kid stuff.
I was horrified. But the school doesn’t care, they’ve known about it since before the merger, and there’s no good that comes from complaining – your kids just get targeted and bullied more. So I told my kids to keep their phones, and keep them on, and start videoing any time something seems wrong.
It is completely wrong to suspend kids for having a phone, or recording something out of the ordinary. And what is most wrong is that they haven’t suspended every kid that had their phone and was recording, but are again playing favourites and targeting some. One of my kids did record the goings on last Tuesday, but they were not suspended. Is that because I have learned not to complain?
I want my kids to have their phones. I want them to be able to call for help, or record a video any time they don’t feel 100% safe.
I’d also like to have a school where I feel safe raising these kinds issues without having to worry about retribution.
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