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France to ban phones in schools

It turns out France will be banning students from using phones in the country's elementary and middle schools, The Guardian reports.

Read more: Turns out 73 percent of young people do not want phones banned at shows

The Guardian explains that students will be allowed to bring their phones to school, but will not be allowed to use phones until they leave school for the day.

“Sometimes you need a mobile for teaching reasons…for urgent situations, but their use has to be somehow controlled,” Jean-Michel Blanquer, the French education minister, explains. “It’s good that children are not too often, or even at all, in front of a screen before the age of seven.”

However, The Guardian says French teachers are skeptical the ban could be enforced—as most teachers in the U.S. would likely report, too.

“This new announcement from the [education] ministry leaves us dubious because we’re having trouble understanding what is the real issue here,” Philippe Vincent, the union’s deputy general secretary, said. “In general, we’re used to them being logical and pragmatic about things, and here, we can’t find the logic or the pragmatism in the announcements.”

Not to mention, kids and parents are skeptical it'll work, and we can't argue with their logic. 

“It’s ridiculous. At my school, we don’t use them in class or during recess, so what’s the problem? If anyone’s caught using one in the toilets or at lunchtime, the phones are confiscated immediately and the person is given detention,” a 12-year-old told The Guardian.

So that leaves the question: Should schools ban cell phones? Sound off in the comments below.

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