How High School Students Negotiate and Resist Restrictive Cell Phone Policies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: The Impacts of School Discipline Policies on Students' Sense of Belonging and Mattering

Abstract

Concerned about the role cell phones play in student disengagement, schools enact technology policies with varying levels of restriction, punishment, and respect for student autonomy. This paper applies humanizing and critical ethnographic approaches to examine how high schoolers negotiate a Midwestern public school’s restrictive cell phone policy. I argue that student resistance illuminates gaps in policy and practice, educational systems that are not responsive to youth needs, and how institutional ‘care’ facilitates racialized surveillance. Findings highlight the need for engaged pedagogy in the high school classroom, intentional supports for young people who are navigating increasingly uncertain futures, and inclusion of students in the design of locally meaningful and equitable educational policy.

Author

• Morgan Mayer-Jochimsen, University of Wisconsin - Madison