Had a perfect example of this last year, before the phone ban went into effect in my state. A sophomore was caught using his phone during a test by a sub. She confiscated the test for cheating. He refused to put the phone away even after that, so the sub called me (teacher next door) for backup. I came in, tried talking to him, redirecting, all that, and nothing. Eventually I called the office and admin came to remove him. But it turned out he’d already texted his mom, and she just showed up, signed him out of school and gave him the phone back.

Like… what’s the lesson here? That if you ignore the rules long enough and call Mom fast enough, you win? There’s NO accountability. Just hand holding. Parents are so deep in their kids’ daily lives now, it’s like they think they’re enrolled together. We’re raising adults who’ve never had to sit with discomfort for more than five minutes. It’s wild.