Agree with a lot of this, but would not advocate kids turning in their phones. Until we get a handle on mass shootings, I think all kids need cell phones. I'm fully in favor of making social media inaccessible on school grounds and any kid caught recording something like this gets expelled.
Natural disasters occur
much more frequently.
If cell towers are still operational, I want to know where my family is after a tornado or ice storm or....
My Hubby's retired now, but when cell phones started to be popular -- he had a basket on his desk in his classroom.
First time he saw a student's phone, it went into the basket, student picked it up at the end of class.
Second time in a week, phone went to the office for the rest of the day, student picked it up at the end of the day.
Second time the office saw it -- parent had to come into the office to retrieve it.
Obviously some teachers enforced & others did not.
Took some record keeping, but not much.
One day an early release was announced over a building's intercom. One of our kids had a great Geometry teacher. The teacher heard the announcement, cleared her throat, and said, "I am going to turn around and write next week's assigned pages on the board, that will take me about 3 minutes." She turned around, and every kid with a phone quickly notified their parents! We love her for many reasons. There is an appropriate use for student's phones -- and it's limited. No every family signs up for text alerts.
I suppose when suddenly
every kid had a phone, and schools went to BYOD Bring Your Own Device, that reasoning didn't work any more.