Government meddling or good policy? You be the judge

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I’m struggling here, folks, at how to approach a push from the state Legislature to continue meddling in school districts.

By way of explanation, or if you haven’t sussed it out based on past columns, I’m a raging fanatic for personal freedom. Government has no business dictating most anything in our lives, and yet there isn’t a part of life that doesn’t have the touch of government on it.

As a rule, the federal government has limited power, which is listed in the Constitution, and the states have authority over everything that isn’t directly listed there. But, my argument always has been that just because they can, it doesn’t mean they should.

House Bill 1481, which is on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, is a push to ban the use of cell phones in classrooms for all students.

As smart phone technology has advanced, it has become quite the crutch, as it were, for students to either access information that is being tossed at them in class or to pass the time in study hall (or boring classes) and lunch periods.

These devices have become an extension of school districts’ policies on the use of technology in instruction, as every student, mostly in the upper grades, are issued Chromebooks and homework has become a form on a website.

So, why a dilemma?

From the personal property/individual rights standpoint, who is the government to say what I can and can’t use during the course of my day. In the case of children, who is the government to say what someone’s child can do with their personal property? That permission belongs to the parents.

From the educators’ standpoint, there has to be some way for teachers and administrators to keep control in the learning environment and put the students’ attention where it belongs – on the subject matter and learning.

Rep. Carolyn Fairly of Amarillo, who introduced the bill, has stated that the ban would give educators the ability to teach without disruption and students the room to learn and engage face-to-face.

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s, the hands-on learning approach seemed to work for me, and I think that what wasn’t broke don’t need to be fixed. I also read the stories about how students are performing throughout the state and country, and I have to ask if technology has had any benefit.

Mostly, I’m on the fence, seeing both sides. I want kids to learn and become functional, productive members of society, and I can’t see that happening when every child and young adult has their neck at 45 degrees staring at a tiny screen.

However, I don’t want anyone telling me, or by extension my children, what they can and cannot do. I also don’t want my elected officials deciding what I or my children can do. I really want them to tend to their own knitting.

I’d really like to hear what you think about this. On our homepage, easttexasnews.com, there is a poll that you can use to log your opinion. We also have pages on the site that will accept letters to the editor, and of course my email, so you can expand on your opinion on this or any other subject.

Let us know, and I’ll publish the results in a later column, and if you send letters, some of those will end up in a story.

Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.