Phone down, book up

I'm composing this letter for my department, then for my school. Let's see what they say.

Letter to RHS Parents

September, 2018

Dear parents and guardians of our Roosevelt students,

The phone-free classroom policy has been a welcome change to learning communities at Roosevelt High School. Teachers have observed more positive interactions between students and fewer distractions to work and discussions in class.

This shift has also inspired the English Language Arts department to reflect on impacts of phone use in general: we wonder about the degree to which phones are responsible for kids and adults reading less. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reading for pleasure has dropped 30% since 2004 (See “Leisure reading in the U.S. is at an all-time low,” 6/29/18, Washington Post).

We have observed more screens and fewer books in our own homes. But we English teachers still ardently believe in the imaginative, reflective powers of reading. Undisturbed by the pinging and flashing and siren song of tasks or temptations only a swipe or click away, the nearly thousand year old technology of bound books provides a sustained focus of thought and imagination that is a source of pleasure, empathy and critical thought available even in today’s crowded mindscape.

We would like to recommend a half an hour every day when your children read books. For thirty minutes, we recommend phones go down, books come up. It would be even better if parents read too. And better still if, in this half hour, everyone read—in proximity, together. But these are ideals and recommendations only. We know schedules and responsibilities crowd and fragment the evenings and everyone is doing the best they can.

Read with us. Half an hour a day: phone down, book up.

English Language Arts teachers

Roosevelt High School