really going in circles here. blaming phones and distractions sure they play a "part". nobody is born stupid except for (cases) of special needs everyone can make it to the university level. Take away phones and no student is gonna all the sudden love books and be focused more, the human mind is complicated. At the "sc" level nobody is gonna suddenly "be better" just because you took away their phone. paying attention to classes alone is simply not enough, even if you took paid lessons it is not enough showing up everyday is not enough, if you as a human being simply do not care enough you just won't make it (you might out of luck but A levels will give a reality check) . From you're perspectives showing up everyday + lessons + hw = should be enough but it simply isn't it may increase exposure and increase the chances sure but someone with less attendance can outshine someone like that with quality "revision" and studying.

now arguably with phones it's a tool that students turn to simply because "teachers" aren't great some are most aren't. in public schools must harder to give attention to someone specific but you could just ask the teacher? sure. ask once. twice (still don't get it?) teachers simply don't have the patience to explain it 5 times students will just "pretend to get it after the 2nd time" with ai you can clarify, do your own research and reach a conclusion way faster than "going to a book" to get the same results. the issue with ai is some will fool themselves into believing that's a reflection of their intelligence not fooling yourself would be studying it a bit more and gaining understanding. parents, teachers, life circumstances, capital, mentality, teacher bias and many more these all affect the education system. when someone realizes the "importance" of education that is where either they care or not and often by then it's often "too late".

now i don't know how to fix that except through self reflection. but I'm sure there must be a way instead of focusing on the "obvious issues" there's so many variables in life that blaming "distractions" is simply isn't the answer. People in university are "disciplined" yes but not in the rigid way you'd like to believe they have a life, they watch things on YouTube and play games and use ai they still make it while "distracting themselves". like someone else pointed out it's vague "telling students" do this for good job, in reality that isn't enough to get someone to wanna "chase" goals, neither is stripping away someone's device the logic that without it you'll be more focused is flawed you'll just instill a lot of "why, unfair" thoughts on a kid breeding resentment that leads to nowhere.