As the school year is wrapping up, have students kept up with the new school phone rules? Or have they forgotten about them and deemed them as irrelevant for the last few weeks of school? At the beginning of the year, many teachers were very strict on the rules, but have let up on them as the year went on.

Most students have decided on their own not to follow the rules anymore. The rules seem to not affect them, so they shouldn’t follow them. From the teacher’s perspective, the rules helped in the beginning by keeping the students engaged, but by now, the teachers aren’t putting as much effort into keeping them off and away.

Math teacher Mr. Humphreys says, “I told them at the beginning of the year to never have them out.” He hasn’t stopped his efforts to keep the phones away, but he has never allowed phones to be out in his classroom, leading to success for his students. 

However, the students believe that phones being away doesn’t affect them having success and it can lead to more stress not being able to have access to a communication device. Junior Cassidy Shoffitt says, “I have had my phone out in some classes, but it’s never caused me to get a bad grade,” and she has had a great year despite not having their phone off and away the whole day. Cassidy says that “a phone break is needed now and then” to be able to get work done without feeling burnt out.

Overall, teachers who want success from their students believe that the phone rule’s decreasing effectiveness has harmed students. Most students haven’t noticed any difference. In the upcoming school year, more teachers may become more strict about this rule, and the students might not be too happy.