Anthony Furey: Yes, We Need to Ban Cellphones From Schools—and Enforce It

Commentary Here’s what a high school student from Miami named Arabella told The New York Times on the subject of cellphone bans: “In my school, many students amble around campus, staring down at their phones, completely oblivious to the world around them. I have witnessed some of my peers bump into walls or into other students as they are entranced in their small electronic devices.” It’s an amusing response, but others are more dire. Bumping into walls is the least of our worries when it comes to the disruption and chaos caused by phones in the classroom. Mylea was another American high school student who offered her thoughts to the Times: “I think that schools should ban cellphones because most problems in school typically circle back to cellphones. … Kids are also always on their phones during class. Their grades start to go down and then they fail.” Mylea added that phones encourage bullying conduct, like taking inappropriate pictures and then harassing people online about them....