Domestic Policy

Only 35% of students in this district meet basic math standards, and parents and students are protesting – about cell phone ban

No Comments

I have really tried to be more positive and upbeat lately instead of doomscrolling on social media but few things have gotten me as angry as this story about parents and students bitching about a cell phone ban.

This is from a school in HISD, the largest school district in Texas.

Administrators responded to a rash of violent incidents by banning cell phones. In response, about two dozen students are *walking out* of classes to protest.

Here’s the insane report:

Good Lord that is depressing, pathetic and sad.

I looked up the testing for this district. One report said only 35% of students are testing to their grade standards in math. Is anyone protesting that?

Another report said that more and more students in the district were failing to meet the “basic achievement standards” for math AND reading.

HISD saw declines across the board in the percentages of its students performing at or above basic achievement levels as defined by the NAEP. The number of students meeting the threshold for fourth-grade math fell from about 77 percent in 2019 to 63 percent this year, while those percentages dropped from 47 to 44 in fourth-grade reading and from 59 to 56 percent in eighth-grade reading.

There’s all sorts of reasons for this, from the pandemic to parents just not giving a shit, but it is depressing to see that the one thing they WILL protest for is the right for their dumbass children to stay glued to a phone screen.

I was a teacher during the time that cell phones were introduced into classrooms and I 100% support the ban of all cell phones at all schools. They are just a distraction and absolutely detract from instruction, and it is unbelievable that some parents are so stupid as to oppose such a ban.

Here’s an irrational expression of the protest expressing just how badly reading and writing standards have fallen at schools:

I hope the district stands their ground and punishes any student who walks out on class to protest. Children aren’t going to school to “voice their opinions,” they’re supposed to be going there to learn how to be useful members of society. Instead they’re learning to protest any time they are inconvenienced slightly.