Topic: Emerging Technologies
Frustrated by students' refusal to adhere to the school's ban on cell phones, a principal in Canada recently purchased and installed a device that jams cell phone signals (see article). Of course, these devices are illegal in Canada (the U.S. as well), so it wasn't long at all before he had to pull the plug. Yet another failed attempt to deal with the cell phone issue through force.
In going back over The Starfish and the Spider, which I'll be referencing during a talk in Calgary next week, it came to me that the cell phone thing is a classis example of a spider institution (schools) attempting to deal with cell phone toting students as though they were spiders when, in fact, these kids are acting just like starfish. What happens when you try to clobber a starfish? You don't get rid of it, you create more. And that's what's happening with kids and cell phones.
Bans aren't successful- instead, kids have learned to carry disconnected phones or fake phones to hand over to teachers. They text while the phone is in their pocket. They download ringtones that are out of the range of most adults' hearing.
What if school officials tried some different approaches? The authors of Starfish and Spider suggest three strategies for working with starfish. First, try to change the ideology. Micro loans are far more successful at squelching terrorism than any military action because these loans change the ideology from one of despair to one of hope. What could we change to impact kids' thinking about cell phones and their place at school?
Second, try to move the starfish closer to the center. When people have something tangible they care about, they're more likely to go along with the program. What might that look like with cell phones?
Finally, maybe educators should decentralize themselves a bit. Maybe there is a place for cell phones in the classroom!
Not all three strategies work in every situation, but surely we can find some common ground here. I'd be interested in hearing how others are dealing with this situation.
;Technorati Tags: cell phones in schools, education, school administrators, Susan Brooks-Young
