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Should Cell Phones Be Banned In Schools?

 

Hello and welcome to CNN 10 your daily 10 minutes of news

where I simply tell you the what letting you decide what to think.

 

I'm Coy Wire here in San Antonio

 

home of the 2025 NCAA Men's Final Four

 

where a national champion will be crowned tonight.

 

it has been so nice to meet some of you while I've been here.

 

great people, great food this place is pretty awesome.

 

We're going to start today with some American history.

 

behind me is the Alamo in 1836 the Battle of the Alamo became a pivotal event.

 

in Texas's fight for independence from Mexico on February 23rd.

 

Mexican forces led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna began a 13-day siege of the fort.

 

the outnumbered Alamo defenders led by James Bowie, William Travis and even famed frontiersman Davy Crockett eventually were overpowered.

 

frontiersman [frʌnˋtɪrzmən] n. 边远地区居民；拓荒者

overpower [͵ovɚˋpaʊɚ] v. 击败；制伏

 

but the defeat galvanized the rest of Texas and later that year they'd win their independence.

and remember the Alamo became a famous battlecry during the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848.

 

galvanize [ˋgælvə͵naɪz] v. 刺激；以某种方式激励人心；激起

battle cry 战斗时的助攻喊杀声；吶喊；口号；标语

 

today the Alamo is Texas's only UNESCO World Heritage site and most visited landmark.

it's in the midst of a $550 million enhancement effort.

 

it'll open in 2027 complete with a 4D theater and 5,000 artifacts

 

telling the Alamo's full 300-year history from indigenous history to the Texas Revolution and civil rights movement.

 

now to an issue affecting students and educators in schools everywhere.

 

the debate over banning cell phones from the classroom phone-free schools are becoming more common across the US.

 

several states have introduced policies that ban or restrict cell phone use in schools.

 

with more than a dozen other states and Washington DC introducing statewide legislation to ban or restrict them in the future.

 

the issue is a rare instance of bipartisanship uniting state leaders on both sides of the political aisle.

 

legislators have pointed to harmful mental health impacts from smartphone use to justify the bans.

 

and with screen time rising among teens those in favor of phone bans say they lead to fewer distractions in the classroom.

 

our Pamela Brown met with students at a high school in Arlington, Virginia where students are required to put their phones inside magnetic locking pouches every morning.

 

pouch [paʊtʃ] n. 小袋，囊

 

here's what some of them have to think about the policy.

 

Raise your hand if you're a fan of this new phone-free policy at the school um it's complicated this Virginia high school looks like any other during passing periods but notice one thing's missing.

 

passing period: period of time in between classes, that usually consists of 5 or 6 minutes to go to your locker, use the restroom and get to your next class

 

I remember the first day I was sitting in physics my phone was locked up in my back and I kept reaching for it but I couldn't.

 

and the only thing I can do was sit on my computer and listen.

 

Wakefield High is a guinea pig of sorts students are expected to store their phones in this magnetic locking pouch throughout the day.

 

at first there was resistance. People were putting dents and holes in the wall like there were tables we had to like get fixed.

right after we got them.

 

when I walked in the cafeteria all you hear is the bang.

 

bang [bæŋ] n. 猛击，猛撞

 

Greg Cabana a government teacher at Wakefield noticed it too.

 

the fact that they're banging pouches around the cafeteria trying to unlock their phone this is proving our point right here of how meaningful and how powerful that phone is.

 

Cabana has been advocating for stricter regulations on phones for years after feeling like his role as an educator was secondary to being the phone police.

 

as a teacher it was just daily judgment calls. Put your phone away put your phone away. Should I say something to the student? Should I keep on teaching? Should I talk to them in the hallway? Is it worth it?

 

judgment call 主观判断（以自己的观点作出的决定）

 

It may be too soon to fully understand the impact of phones on academic performance especially talking to this group of high-erforming students.

 

I think it depends on who you were before the phone policy.

 

But other benefits inside the classroom are clear.

 

Even just picking it up for a small time can take away from like your learning experience.

 

It's not a small improvement it is it is a dramatic improvement back on to engaging, fun teaching with student interaction.

 

the 2023 surgeon general's report says up to 95% of kids 13 to 17 use social media.

 

Former surgeon general Dr Vivek Murphy even called for tobacco style warning labels on social media platforms saying they're associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.

 

the data also shows when kids are spending more than 3 hours on average that they face nearly double the risk increased risk of depression and anxiety symptoms.

 

but a recent CDC study found about 50% of teenagers between ages 12 and 17 had four or more hours of daily screen time.

 

I definitely prefer having it but um I mean  I get more work done.

 

do you realize did it make you realize you have an emotional attachment to it?

 

oh I think I knew that before and I was just kind of avoiding that fact.

 

you were avoiding that fact before but now it's like in your face real oh yeah now I know I'm addicted.

 

every day I go straight to my phone when I get home don't even think about the homework.

 

but when he's in the walls of Wakefield he's opening up in other ways. I feel like I connect with more people and like have better conversations than I could have had with the phone.

 

student Karen Mines says. it's led to a new kind of engagement.

 

Even just like at lunch you like talk to each other you know like people bring games to class and that's something I had never experienced.

 

You never experienced that kind of engagement.

 

Well it was just like and maybe not since kindergarten maybe not since preschool.

 

and the students and teachers here say less isolation has meant less interpersonal conflict.

 

There were a lot less fights, I haven't seen any this year.

 

The movement to restrict cell phones in classrooms is growing with nine states having already passed a ban or restricted cell phone use in schools and 15 states plus the District of Columbia have introduced legislation to do the same.

 

but not every educator is on board including Brandon Cardett Hernandez a former public school principal in New York.

 

on board: ready to participate or be included

 

we have to teach digital literacy skills like kids need to know how to use social media. And by an outright ban of smartphones in schools we are not getting any closer to teaching those skills.

 

outright [ˋaʊtˋraɪt] adj. 彻底的；无保留的；直率的；公开的

 

he also worries that low income students relying on the school for access to reliable Wi-Fi are being forgotten in the discussion.

 

Kids who are ready, the most vulnerable and the most under-resourced schools who are already experiencing skill gaps. Those are the kids who are going to be the most harmed.

 

under-resourced 资源不足的

 

there's also a very real concern about what happens during an emergency.

 

I know one of the biggest things that people are worried about was if there's like a lock down and like there's someone in the school and you need to text your parents, and then all the parents would be going crazy because they can't text their kids they don't know if they're okay.

 

Cabana points out that he thinks phones can do more harm than good in those situations. Misinformation could be put out on phones, incorrect rumors um perhaps panicking when there shouldn't be that. That would just be a hindrance to keeping students safe.

 

hindrance [ˋhɪndrəns] n. 妨碍，障碍

 

so while the jury is still out, if this group would recommend a ban in other schools? One thing is clear. unplugging for them means a new sense of freedom.

 

That's the part I've really loved most. Just like honestly the weight that's kind of been lifted off my shoulders this freedom taken from us but we've like gained another freedom um I guess like a mental freedom so I really appreciate that. That was good that was good.

 

pop quiz hot shot what is located on the top floor of the US Supreme Court building?

 

a diner a gym chapel or an observatory

 

Answer is the Supreme Court gym. It comes complete with a basketball court fittingly named the highest court in the land where justices, clerks and staff can hoop it up

 

today's story getting a 10 out of 10.

 

some words of wisdom for all the leaders and leaders in the making out there ahead of the final four over the weekend I got to chat with all four of the head coaches.

 

who've had their teams led to the biggest stage in college basketball through all the ups and downs in this whirlwind of a season.

 

whirlwind [ˋhwɝl͵wɪnd] n. 旋风；旋流；旋风般的快速行动

 

Iasked Duke's John Scheyer, Florida's Todd Golden, Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Auburn's Bruce Pearl. What's one of the keys to being a great leader?

 

Trust in your players trust in your staff.

 

Everybody making sacrifices you know for the greater good, understand that when we as a team are successful you as an individual will benefit far more.

 

I try to lead, you know from uh kind of the players perspective and even though obviously I'm the head coach I want them to feel like I'm in it with them.

 

you know one of our kind of traditions is shooting half-court shots the day before the game and and that was an example of that today

 

Somewhere along the way, I've learned the importance of being a servant leader um and not a boss.

 

I like working with people and helping them become better at whatever they're doing and uh I think that should always be a joint effort.

 

I've learned that in order to ask anybody to to do anything, you better be willing to do it yourself and that's something I've always tried to take pride in.

 

all right and good luck to Coach Golden's Gators and Coach Samson's Cougars tonight in the national championship game.

All right it is time for our favorite part of the show.

 

we've got a Texas size shout out going to Mound City School in Mound City, Missouri we see you Panthers, and from right here in Texas this shout out goes to Mr Dominguez and all our friends at Eagle Pass High School in Eagle Pass, Texas rise up, let's giddy up make this an awesome week.

 

I'll see you right back here tomorrow from the Lonear State. I'm Coy Wire and we are

 

CNN 10.