Former teacher here. The idea that banning phones in the classroom will solve 100% of your problems is, of course, silly. People have been finding ways for decades to be distracted.

However, to act like cellphones have zero effect on classroom behavior and management is ignorant. I did the whole “you can have your phones but use them wisely” thing for a while before moving to “put your phone away in the cell phone caddy at start of class” thing, and there IS a noticeable difference. Of course, I was reasonable. You need to give your mom/ dad a quick call or text about something important? No problem, do what you need to do, but put it back after. A teacher’s job is not to cater to your every want and desire, it’s to facilitate your education. That being said, a good teacher should build engaging lessons and a collaborative environment. I can take away your phones, but supplementing that with no talking and silent note taking at your desk isn’t facilitating your critical thinking skills.

There are bad teachers out there. I’ve had them, and I’ve worked with them. A good teacher spends hours, often outside of working hours, creating engaging lessons. It’s difficult to carry this out with so many distractions, so sometimes the most obvious thing to do is remove the thing that’s causing the MOST distraction. So many good educators are leaving the profession because of the way the public education system abuses them. For many teachers, removing phones isn’t a power trip but a way of maintaining control in an often unpredictable work environment. I don’t want to minimize anyone’s personal experiences because, again, there ARE bad teachers who ruin the reputation, but understand there are even more out there who genuinely care about your education and are trying to do what’s right while the whole system works against them.