The now completely unavoidable school issued chromebook homescreen. Photo courtesy of senior Roslyn Risner. 

  School has resumed at San Luis Obispo High School, and with it, students may notice changes to school policy. One of the most shocking being, the ban on personal chromebooks and laptops. What changed?

  “The district is in the midst of developing strategies for utilizing A.I. This work is one reason that personal devices are no longer allowed. Also, loads of research has been conducted regarding disconnecting from social media for periods of time. Young adults need this screen free time. Hopefully, using a chromebook will build in time away from social media and more time with socializing with friends in person,” said English teacher Lynnly Sainsbury.

  While there is no way to ban students from bringing personal devices onto campus, the new restriction has created a WiFi connection that will not be accessed by non-district devices, making the use of personal devices that much more difficult, with the goal to eliminate them. If this choice was to increase student productivity, do students feel like it’s helped?

  “Personally, I am pretty productive during class, both with personal and school owned devices. The WiFi and school accounts block everything, with everything that’s blocked on the chromebooks being blocked on personal devices as well. I think people will still find ways to play games and things like that on school devices, so removing the use of personal devices will do nothing to stop it,” said senior Bee Penna Morrison.

  High school boasts that it’s meant to prepare teenagers for the young adult world, college and otherwise, yet this year, students are trusted to manage their own devices and choices less than ever. If fourteen to eighteen year olds can no longer be trusted to do the required work, how are they supposed to develop good habits for college where everything is on personal devices, with unlimited internet access?

  “Overall, I think that I learn better with my personal computer, it’s definitely more accessible for me to use, and I’m more familiar with it. The school chromebooks are also fairly old, especially the ones that aren’t touchscreens, making my newer personal device faster and easier to use. The more important restrictions that exist are also on personal devices when running on school WiFi, so banning all non-district devices feels like overkill,” said senior Vyolet Burrus.

  Micromanaging teenage students may seem like a temporary fix, but really it’s taking away an opportunity to learn how to focus in a very distracting world.

  The phone pockets were one thing, cellphones in general are always distracting in class. Controversially, personal devices tend to be less distracting and more likely to be controlled by the limiting WiFi, removing students’ access to their devices, which they are likely more comfortable with, shows little trust in their maturity. If individual students prove that they are incapable of staying focused and being academically honest, personal device cases could’ve been taken on a case-by-case basis, rather than as a blanket rule.

   “The ban should be lifted because it doesn’t do anything for people who use the school devices, but it’s not a great idea to essentially remove students’ will to use their own devices. I think there will be a lot of pushback from students and parents,” said Penna Morrison.

  Many SLOHS students intend to go into college following graduation, and if they aren’t given the opportunity to practice productivity in the ways that work for them, and constantly have adults hovering to make sure they do the best things, how can they be expected to know how to do that themselves for the first time in a university or college setting?

  There is an argument to be made, for ensuring that everyone has similar resources,

  “I understand the reason behind the ban. It is tricky for students to navigate initially. People with the resources to buy personal devices are fortunate, but not every family can manage this expense,” said Sainsbury.

  Due to lack of enforcement for the rules, problematic and outdated computers, as well as other motivations, the ban on personal devices doesn’t seem like it’s going to sit very well with students. While the quality of chromebooks provided has increased since most seniors started at SLOHS, the underclassmen are more likely to have the newer chromebooks, since they were given to them in middle school.

  The ban on personal devices has been disruptive to many, however there are reasons for the ban, and hopefully as the access to good computers continues to improve, everyone will be satisfied with the resources provided.

  Whether the rule is loved, or hated, it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment as students accustomed to personal devices adjust to the school provided chromebooks.