this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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The "study" is that they asked teachers, "Hey, how's it been going?" and the teachers answered, "I feel like my students are paying attention more now."
Polling professionals and experts on their opinions is perfectly reasonable to publish as a preliminary study on a subject
It's a sensible first step.
Who better to poll than teachers for this type of study? They are the ones in the trenches and can gauge the results.
Teachers can't guage worth a damn
You shouldn't poll anyone, instead look at test results. If there is better focus, it'll improve learning outcomes like test scores, graduation rates, and reduces instances of cheating. IMO, if we poll anyone, it should be parents about how much assistance they give their kids (i.e. are they filling in the gaps in their education less?).
It's nice that teachers think kids are paying more attention, but that only matters if kids are learning more.
That's another type of study that is also worthwhile. But the effects of distracted students on teachers and the classroom as a whole is also relevant.
Sure, I just don't trust results from subjective studies, unless it's tracking trends over time. So maybe if they had opinion polls like this before smartphones were a thing in classrooms, while smartphones were a thing, and after they were banned I'd trust the results somewhat. But if we're just tracking an after-the-fact poll, it just feels like confirmation bias. I believe teachers have an incentive to overstate the impact of policies that give them more control, because they want to encourage more such policies, even if they aren't effective at achieving tangible results.
So yeah, I distrust this type of study. I don't think it's necessarily worthless, I just don't think many conclusions can be taken from it.
You can conclude that teachers experience a better classroom environment. There was also 1/3 that did observe academic improvement.
E: Also, a teachers subjective experience is still an objective result if you are considering the qol aspect of the policy.
I mostly care about longer term impacts. The ban has only been in place for a year and a half, so it's really not much to go on.
Yeah, except science does not work like that. 😐
Yes, it does. A subjective response can absolutely be an objective result.
This is not a demonstration and this does not qualify as a scientific proof. 🤷
They polled teachers. It ir like I polled religious and conclude that God exists because God speaks to most of the people I polled. This is not science, sorry not sorry.
Yeah, like, if you're just gonna ask someone, they'd be the ones to ask.