by Allyssa Hunt
Journalism A/B Student
Phones are an important item for people in today’s world. They have their benefits, but they also have their drawbacks. As the semester comes to an end and grades are being finalized, a QOHS student, teacher, and parent reflect on how phones have impacted schools throughout this semester.
A sophomore student at QOHS Hailey Carmi believes phones can be a very big distraction for students, and their grades may drop due to the distraction. “Students are distracted and can’t get their work done, so they submit work late,” Carmi said. As a student, she has had personal experience with being distracted by her phone, and she has seen it in a lot of her other classmates.
Not only do students think phones are an issue, but teachers do as well. MCPS paraeducator Bobby Bishop also thinks phones are a distraction for students, but he also believes that it affects teachers. “The teachers feel helpless because if they try to take the phone away from the student, the parent will give the teacher a hard time, so lots of teachers just look the other way,” Bishop said. He has experienced and heard from other teachers about several instances of teachers having issues taking students’ phones away. It is an extremely difficult situation for teachers, so it is easier for them to ignore the students’ phones.
Some parents think they are just as much of a problem as the students and teachers do. MCPS parent Jeff Hunt believes phones don’t have any positive impact on students. “You have access to the internet on Chromebooks, so you shouldn’t need to use a phone for schoolwork,” Hunt said. He thinks phones are completely unnecessary and are not needed at all to learn. He also believes that it affects the teachers negatively and it upsets them. “Teachers are probably frustrated that they can’t get everyone’s attention,” Hunt said.
An MCPS student, parent, and teacher all believe that phones are only negatively affecting students. They all agree that phones can be a distraction for students, teachers get frustrated, and grades are dropping.
January 2024
The Prowler 