House Bill 1481: Why the phone policy should be banished.
Earlier this year, Texas passed a law (House Bill 1481) that prohibits all students k-12 from using any personal electronic devices during the school day. It was put in order supposedly to limit distractions and focus on learning, according to the Texas Legislature. As everyone knows, the law has already gone into effect as of September 1, 2025; however, the deadline is September 18 for all public schools across Texas.
This new law should be terminated. It gives students no time to work on their first week log-ins, be on top of their grades, text a parent/guardian in an emergency, or give them access to online resources.
Effects on school work and success in students
The first week of school is full of syllabi from most classes. A handful of these classes require students to create log-ins for platforms like College Board, Google Classroom, Canvas, etc.. These are all essentials that students can rely on to be successful in the class. Unfortunately, students can not have full access to these resources at school anymore because of the new law put into place and many students save log-ins on their phones, but they have not been able to access them because of the phone ban. Also, it gets pretty annoying in class, since many students finish their work early and end up having nothing to do but sit there. This time could be useful for students to finish online account sign-ins, quizzes, last minute touches on homework or even the submit button on assignments. Yet, kids must sit in absolute boredom.
With school just starting, students really need to lock-in on grades. This is the time when low grades really bring down averages. However, it’s quite difficult to work on online assignments without an electronic device. While the school offers chromebooks, they have been unavailable for over 2 weeks and only now coming back. According to teachers, the district is trying to get rid of community chromebooks and convert to personal ones for every student.
How could the state expect us to go into the school year with a fresh start, when they fail to even provide proper materials needed to do so?
Parent/Guardian reactions
In the middle of a class, students tend to get calls from their parents about an emergency. Although unfortunate, it is one of those things that the state needs to take into consideration. “My grandma was actually in surgery yesterday and I had no news of anything whatsoever,” stated student Nora Monsaviais. Not being able to respond to parents can be very nerve-racking and causes them a lot of stress. A handful of students have expressed that their parents have filed complaints to the school and make the students call them every day during lunch. The one time where they can actually be on their phones. To some it may seem extreme but at the end of the day parents give their kids a phone for a reason. To call when in need. And now this law just defeats that whole purpose.
Loss of Online Resources
During classroom lectures, many students like to be able to access their devices for help or to complete online homework. It can really be beneficial to their success in the class. Now, with the failure to allow devices in school, students are forced to use nothing but their brains. One might argue this is good, but it actually is not because it never gives them a chance to hear an outsider’s opinion. Because when students have no opinion on their work, it tends to make them very insecure. They refuse to go to the teacher out of fear of being “chewed out,” and they end up never truly knowing if they are right. When students get to learn at their own pace, it allows them to see things more clearly, making for a better learning experience. It also increases brain growth because now they can not only understand the assignment they can excel at it. Students already carry so much anxiety on their shoulders from harsh teachers, deadlines on assignments and fast-paced learning. This gives students a break, a chance to learn at their own pace, and improve digital literacy skills.
Conclusion
“Over the years I’ve seen students struggle to focus on lessons in class. I’ve also done research and found that the average student receives 100 messages a day.” Said Wernli. He also claims this is a huge issue with focus in classroom environments but also to students’ anxiety.
While this might be true, completely taking away phones in class causes kids to be extremely distracted by everything around them and makes the classroom environment even more disruptive for teachers and other students.
We the people can protest against the state and eventually banish this law for good — together. As you can see, it causes many disturbances in student success and school just started! Texas, make the change and keep the phones.
