It's too bad for Mayor de Blasio that 13-year-olds aren't usually included in public opinion polls. If they were, his approval rating might have climbed significantly this week when he decided to lift New York City public schools' ban on cellphones.
In what can only be described as pandering to adolescents and the parents who helicopter around them, de Blasio announced that effective March 1, cellphones will be allowed inside school buildings.
The original policy, which was put into place by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2006, was antiquated according to de Blasio — and downright mean.
At a press conference, de Blasio's claims were over-the-top. "We have a policy right now that makes it impossible for parents to communicate with their kids. Who brought these children into the world? The parents. Who's first and foremost responsible for their safety and their well-being? The parents."
And before the invention of cellphones, parents were…what? Irresponsible?
The mayor and his allies claim that the ban was being unevenly enforced because only schools with metal detectors — i.e., the most dangerous ones — could really ensure that the phones didn't enter the building.
If that's true, the end result of lifting the ban will be that kids already getting the worst educations in the most difficult environments will now be even less likely to learn anything.
God forbid these kids look up from their screens for a minute. They might have to learn how to interact with an adult.
Principals will likely introduce rules requiring cellphones to be left in lockers or backpacks. But that's much more difficult to enforce.
Chester E. Finn, a former Assistant Secretary of Education, calls de Blasio's move "truly outrageous from the teachers' perspective, as once they're allowed in the building…it becomes the teacher's job to police whether they're actually turned off, etc. As if the teacher had nothing else to police."
Indeed the teachers in disadvantaged schools already have plenty of other disruptions in their classes. Why should they have to compete with androids and iPhones to get their classes' attention?
Christine Rosen, who writes about technology and culture for New Atlantis, notes that "even if you set aside the issues of cyberbullying, cheating and general distractedness that cell phones will abet, kids already spend most of their waking hours staring at screens.
Shouldn't we try to preserve some spaces at school for the cultivation of other valuable skills, such as face-to-face communication and socializing?"
God forbid these kids look up from their screens for a minute. They might have to learn how to interact with an adult.
De Blasio and city Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña also left open the possibility that cellphones could be used in classes for "instructional purposes."
Which is even worse. Students will be constantly switching back and forth between their text message conversations, Instagram and whatever app is supposed to be educating them.
And teachers will have to be constantly spot-checking their screens to make sure they are staying on task. As Finn notes, "If the kids are allowed to use them in school, there will be no more learning at all there, at least not learning anything in the curriculum."
Keep in mind that the original ban was instituted before the widespread use of smartphones — the first iPhone hadn't even come out yet.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.Photo: Paul Martinka
Where once kids might have been using their phones to do some texting or even calling each other, now they can spend hours on social-networking sites, ignoring their algebra lessons.
If there are any adults out there who doubt this scenario, see how many meetings you can sit through this week without surreptitiously checking Facebook every five minutes.
One parent told 1010 WINS that the key to keeping connected with your child while also ensuring he's not distracted is getting him a phone that he's too embarrassed to use for anything except emergencies.
A nice idea, but how many kids do you expect to see with flip phones at New York City schools anytime soon?
So, what about the parents? What will they do if there's an emergency? Well, it's not like the schools are phone-free zones.
Are there any parents out there claiming that their kids have been involved in some kind of emergency in the past 10 years and they weren't contacted by the school? Can you imagine the lawsuits?
Parents who need to be able to text with their kids every minute of the day are creating more problems than they're solving.
Says Rosen: "I sympathize with parents' desire to keep track of their kids but the level of surveillance that cellphones allow is too extreme, especially during the school day.
Kids — especially older kids — don't need to be tethered electronically to each other or their parents every minute of the day. They need the time, space and privacy to be themselves — and without the risk of it being posted to YouTube."
Remember kids: Be careful what you wish for.
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