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Aeschere06 t1_je11e2c wrote

I cannot respect articles like this. If you think cell phone use is the biggest obstacle Worcester students face in their education, you’re a self absorbed idiot not paying attention, or misinformed, or both.

How about a minority majority district with very few teachers that look like them and who can relate to them on a cultural or linguistic level. How about the violence that other students bring on each other. How about the terrible home life some of the kids have. How about the rotting asbestos filled school buildings they sit in every day (looking at you WEM and Columbus Park)

“Telling kids that “back in the day” we only talked to our moms in the office if she called for an emergency fell on deaf ears.”

I wonder why.

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RedRose_Belmont t1_je1p80i wrote

Don’t let the perfect be the eneoof the good? Is it the biggest problem schools face? It is an easily solvable one? Absolutely

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Aeschere06 t1_je1xem7 wrote

These op eds irritate me. You see them somewhere like three times a year and it’s always some gen x retiree saying the exact same thing as the last one. It’s never needed and always in poor taste. Where is the “good” to a student at WEM who feels like he has to bring a kitchen knife to school to avoid getting jumped after class? Where’s the “good” to the Grafton student who jumped off a bridge in 2018? Where’s the “good” to the students in the stolen car crash on Webster street? How about the classmates of 6 year old Candice who was run over last year? Kids have other problems, don’t waste op eds on this.

This is a rough city to be a kid in, and I don’t see op eds about the harsh reality of most students are up against nearly as much as I see brain dead battle axes wringing their hands about Apple products. Take the kids’ phones away. Go ahead. They’ll still be suffering bullying and domestic violence and homelessness. How focused on their chemistry do you think they’ll be? It’s like, “congrats you took their phones away. I hope that makes you feel like you’ve done a good job”

It’s just in really poor taste to me.

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Sweetbeansmcgee t1_je2j9f5 wrote

It's not just Gen x who feels like this it's most teachers. It's gotten out of control

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Aeschere06 t1_je5hghr wrote

Real talk, don’t be a teacher then? If you can’t handle kids owning cell phones, you cannot be a teacher. I’m sorry, but that’s how the world is and educational practices need to catch up

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Spizmack t1_je5lzwn wrote

You weren't allowed to read a magazine in class before cell phones. Same difference

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masshole4life t1_je6ddig wrote

real talk, our society isn't in a position to give that kind of ultimatum.

we can't make teaching an underpaid bureaucratic nightmare and then turn around and tell teachers "if you don't like it then leave". that's absurd.

classroom distractions aren't new. first it was magazines and baseball cards, then it was handhelds like tiger games and gameboys, now it's cellphones.

just because the world changes doesn't mean that classroom distractions should be back on the menu.

unless phones are integrated into the curriculum they don't need this weird rabid insistence that they be allowed in the classroom.

some mombie wanting to text her son 50 times during the school day is not a good enough reason to have a whole class subjected to the buzzing and beeping of 25 other students' non-school-related communication.

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Aeschere06 t1_je72wnv wrote

Our society isn’t in a position to give the ultimatum “if you cannot work well with K-12 students you shouldn’t be a teacher”? Really?

No one said distractions are “on the menu” (whatever that means) but if you cannot engage and connect with your students and all that that implies, then no, you should not be a teacher. I’m pretty confident in what I said.

And again, how about we don’t write more brain dead op eds about phones, as if we need another one

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masshole4life t1_je7c9ab wrote

you are equating "handeling kids owning cell phones" with "working well with k-12 kids" and it is not only disingenuous but completely ridiculous.

you can hate the op-ed without making disingenuous statements.

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Sweetbeansmcgee t1_je9qfcm wrote

so you can't engage and connect with students unless you allow them to be on their phones whenever they want? that's great you're confident in what you're saying but seems kind of ridiculous to me

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CoolAbdul t1_jeb2mlu wrote

What arrogant bullshit.

You must be a member of the school committee.

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Sweetbeansmcgee t1_je6dogm wrote

I have alot of things that I don't use in the middle of my workday. Just because kids have phones doesn't mean they should constantly be on them

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CoolAbdul t1_jeb2ff0 wrote

This is such grandstanding and utter bullshit.

You want to instantly improve the environment?

Ban the cellphones.

The other stuff is monolithic and not as easily solved.

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AceOfTheSwords t1_je5eehw wrote

It's baffling that Doherty is getting a giant new building when those buildings exist as they are.

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CoolAbdul t1_jeb26n3 wrote

> cell phone use is the biggest obstacle Worcester students face in their education

Yes.

They are.

Are you a teacher?

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