Should mobile phones be banned at school? Or is that patronizing? This is the opinion of the DVHN Youth Panel

In France, smartphones have been banned in schools since 2018. They offer too much distraction for students, the government believes, and they cause too much hassle, with recordings, social media and sometimes quarrels between students. In the Netherlands, every school has its own rules, and often even every teacher within a school.

Member of Parliament René Peters (CDA) heard from his 16-year-old daughter that she had watched World Cup matches during class at school. On the smartphone. What had the teacher said when he noticed that? “He asked what the score was.”

Since Peters submitted an (unaccepted) motion to ban smartphones at school at the end of November, the debate has been going on everywhere: should mobile phones be banned at school here as well?

Alice Forest (16)

“Just checking your social media and before you know it it’s already a few hours later; it happens to all of us and it is therefore not surprising that many people already suffer from a telephone addiction. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t advantages to phones. For example, nowadays it is much easier to look up a word or a definition on the internet than in the ‘old-fashioned’ dictionary.

Banning phones in schools would be outrageous. I believe that schools should grow with the times and telephones are part of it these days.

To prevent students from sitting on their phones during class, phone bags have already been hung up in many schools. Phones can be used here during class.

There is no denying that there are still students who secretly use their phones. But at some point this is also the responsibility of the students themselves. If you know you can’t get anything out of the lessons, then I think you should have the freedom to do what works for you.

After all, everyone has an individual learning path and if you are aware of this, you will eventually know, and especially in secondary education, what works best for you. And if you need your phone for this, then this should certainly not be banned.”

Linda Alderink (16)

“The image of telephones in the classroom has now become normal. There are almost always telephones on the table during class, there are only a handful of teachers who absolutely do not want to see telephones.

It is often said that phones are a distraction in school, as students can use them to play games or view social media. But if we were to ban telephones for that reason, laptops would actually have to be taken off the table, because those things are also regularly done on them.

I think it’s too late to ban the phones now. In addition, the question is how much a ban on the use of telephones would help. I think it would be a better idea to look at a way to use telephones during class, for example by means of online quizzes.”

Vivian Muggen (17)

“Having telephones at school has two sides: on the one hand, it distracts the children, which is annoying for the teachers, on the other hand, it is now part of the young people. Those little computers in our pockets are an extension of themselves for some people.

Then you could say that that is precisely the reason for banning them, so that young people can ‘get rid of them’, but you could also say that that is simply the future. Our cell phones are a big part of our lives these days.

We young people are stubborn. We don’t want to be told what we can or can’t do, especially when it comes to a subject like this, which is very important to most. We think we can handle our phones just fine.

Is that always the case? Definitely not. But I do think it is better to let the young people find out for themselves. It certainly sounds patronizing to me to say that young people should not have phones in school. Phones during class should be banned as far as I’m concerned, but I think banning them completely at school is going too far.

Moreover, digital education is now a thing at many schools, which also use telephones. We just can’t ignore it anymore.”