During last summer, Ohio Governor Mike Dewine signed the bill that banned cell phones throughout schools, including Cincinnati Public Schools. At Aiken, students are being forced to put their phone inside of something called an
“Yondr Pouch”.
I attend Aiken New Tech High School and I can honestly say that Yondr pouches are a good and bad thing for me. They are really good to me because I can get more work done and I can also focus a lot more in class and get work done. They can be a bad thing for me because I hardly ever get to listen to my
music, and in case of an emergency I would not be able to contact a parent right away or if something happens at home no one would be able to get in contact with me. I think there should be a cell phone policy but locking them up in a pouch to where they could only be opened up by admin is kind of too far.
Teachers are loving them.“I really like them! I think that students are more engaged and actually seem kinder and more aware of each other. The only problem is that students are going through the work so quickly, I have to do a lot more lesson planning!” said one teacher at Aiken. Meanwhile, some
students are hating them. “I hate them . They are wasting their money,” said an unnamed 11th grade student at Aiken. Students all across Ohio are have to learn how to get through school without phones. We will see if putting phones away is
as useful as Gov. Dewine hopes.
