Teachers and principles may be very against changing the policy on our devices during the school day! While some people could say that changing the device policy would cause many issues, TMS should change the current device policy because 

We should change the device policy because I know it would make students happier. I have noticed a lot of students upset about the new policy, such as two students from my choir class saying, “it’s outrageous to have to ask to go to the office just to text my mom.” I know if they ask the teacher to text their mom they should be able to do it in class without walking to the office. There are also some people during lunch saying, “I just wanna talk to my friends or listen to music during my free time at school.” I agree with them and there needs to be a change. They should also be allowed to use their phone during their free time, like lunch, they should spend it how they want and be able to play games or listen to music. I understand that students could record other students but if they do that the teachers can give them a warning. If the students don’t listen to this warning it will be taken and put into the office for the rest of the day or few days. Changing the policy also can make kids stop hiding things from their teachers because some kids hide their phones or Airpods just so they can work better. 

Changing this device policy would help students who need to use their headphones to help them and stay on top of their work. Some students work better with music. If they ask their teacher and give them a good reason, such as, “I need to calm down,” or, “It helps me to focus better when focusing on two things at once, better than only one thing,” and the teacher says, “yes.” They can listen to music during class. Some people also just need music or background music (that they like) to help work, like kids with ADHD.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that “Children from ages 3-17 years ever diagnosed with ADHD, according to a national survey of parents, is 6 million.” And that is not even counting the people with undiagnosed ADHD or people who don’t even think they have it. Being able to listen to music in class may also help with blocking out the talking in class. Before listening to music, they have to ask the teacher.

Some critics may say that changing the device policy may upset the teachers, but in the end the students are getting the accommodations they need and might be less disruptive or disturbing in class. I feel like if they are using devices without teachers permission they can get a warning once and then the next time they are using a device without permission they can get ISS for the rest of the day without their phone or extra work from that teacher, such as extra homework. The punishments can also get harsher everytime is happens. After the third time this happens they will not be able to use their device for the rest of the year. These warnings can be written down on a piece of paper like they do now. The teacher and student can also have a plan if the students need music a lot doing work for them to work better. The plan can be a written agreement or a talk before class about what today will look like, and how using their device will look in class that day. Noticing this there could always be a distraction from the learning environment, but stated before some people do work better with music or just something they like to listen too.

I stand strongly about changing the device policy. Even though it may cause problems, it would solve a lot more. The reasons I stated, I feel like are valid and the device policy should be changed. Changing the device policy would make students happier, and help students who need help with staying focused with their work or help people who can’t focus without music. Please consider changing the device policy. It would make the students happy!