The cell phone policy in schools is "a real mess." This writes the National Academy of Media and Society in a report published this week. Dutch schools know no counsel with the use of cell phones by young people. With all its consequences.
Today there's a piece into nrc.next the Netherlands pages. This year, the number of times a problem with cell phones in class.
So there was recently a revealing picture of a pupil on Twitter, posted by a vengeful ex-boyfriend. The kids still talk about in the schoolyard. And there was a video of a lesson on YouTube. Leraartje bullying was never so easy, given the nasty, anonymous comments below the video. The school eventually managed to remove the film.
"There's something every week with a cell phone," said school director Bert de Weerd of Panta Rhei school in Amstelveen. "And I'm not talking about a student who is sitting chatting in class. There's stuff with images. With threats. Theft. "
There are rules on Panta Rhei. A teacher sees a cell phone in class then you lose it a few hours. Do you get caught three times, that you lose your cell phone one week long. But the cell phone forever banished from the classroom, according to De Weerd impossible. "Then you start searching for each lesson. But it goes much too far for me in order to get the individual freedom of students to attack. The school is no big brother. "
What can schools do to mobile phones in the classroom? Should tougher measures? Or not banned?