Following the recent ear-bud ban this school year, many students expressed their dissatisfaction regarding the matter. Some agree with the band of earbuds as this will stop students from destruction, but others argue that using earbuds to listen to music helps them calm down and focus more on work.
“I was very mad because in class we use our Airpods for Chromebooks and the headphones hurt,” sophomore Mahroosh Rubani said. She says that the Airpods were “harmless” to learning, and could be used to connect to Chromebooks when there were no headphones present in a classroom. She also doesn’t like the idea of having her Airpods in a bubble bag, since they are small and easy to lose if the bag is not sealed properly. She adds it isn’t fair to ban airpods, but not the over-ear headphones. “They let Apple Max’s in but not Airpods? That’s dumb,” she said.
Daniel Santana, a sophomore, believes that the ban was pointless and unnecessary and it didn’t really change anything. He adds that the earbuds students bring into the school have better sound quality, which could help with work online. He adds that the ban was unfair, and that they should just make it fair by letting us have Airpods or provide students with better headphones, so there would be no need to use their own during classes.
Damien Nicholas, a senior, comments that “I don’t know how banning this would do something to anyone.” Damien believes that earbuds did not have any effect on learning, and that “At this point, they should just bring it back.” To him, earbuds were not a distraction in regards to learning, and there was no point in doing that, because people still wear them and somehow get them through the building. He adds that there is no harm done with the presence of earbuds in school, but instead can be used for online work when there are no headphones available.
“It’s not like they [students] can use them to cheat or anything…there was no point in banning them”.
Some people, however, favor the new policy.
Tene Kelly, an assistant principal, says she wishes she knew more about the ear-bud ban. To her knowledge, the new items that have been added to the list of banned technologyon the campus are Airpods and Apple watches. She understands the addiction to technology and believes the addiction is far more worse for teenagers than adults since their brains are still in development. She sees the benefit for some students, but she ultimately states that “Losing your airpods is an easy and expensive mistake to make.” She doesn’t know if and when the ban will be lifted but adds that “Airpods will definitely be banned for this year”.
“I think it’s pretty fair, ” said dean Joseph Shinn. He shares that ear-buds do absolutely nothing and in a school setting, it isn’t necessary. He also thinks banning ear-buds helped the learning and losing them causes a lot of money and could be a potential safety hazard. He talks about students misuse and taking advantage of the privilege of having earbuds and “if the students used it for good, it wouldn’t have been banned.”
“I don’t care. Let them ban it! I have no care in the world for Airpods…they’re just there to be there,” said Trelson Peacock, a sophomore. He agrees with the earbud ban, mainly because to him, airpods are distracting and unnecessary in school settings. Trelson also said that airpods had an immense effect on learning, since they were very distracting and led to frequent pauses in instruction; “If they fail, they fail. Don’t stop the class for them. Don’t stop the lesson and make other kids fall behind.”
Overall, he thinks that this ban is fair and will prove beneficial to learning in the future.
Pedro Rabeje, a U.S history teacher argues that some people may rely on music to distract them from the fatigue of work; it may not be seen as a distraction to some, but during instruction in school, it serves as an obstacle in the way of effective learning. He also believes it may help children who learn differently, saying headphones could be used to keep them calm and work more efficiently. However, he still sides with the administration and their decision to ban the headphones.
“As a teacher of Bronx River, I trust the leadership,” he said.
