For the 2024-2025 school year, Seven Hills implemented new technology and headphone policies. Many students are not a fan of the new policy and have strong opinions on it. Many students believe that the policy is bad for the school as headphones help them focus in class. Sophomore Matia Kastner believes that the policy needs to be fixed, and he should be allowed to wear his headphones whenever he feels like it, with the exception of class and school community events. As a student at Seven Hills, I have been told to take my AirPods out many times ,and whenever I ask what is the reasoning behind this the response I receive is “we want to build a community in Seven Hills and keep people in the moment.” While I see both sides of the story and how the teachers believe we should be present in the moment, sometimes listening to music helps me focus better and music gets me into a good mental state.
Some students believe the policy doesn’t matter and hasn’t affected their day-to-day life while others believe that it’s hindered their work ethic. Junior Tyler Imrie said, “I don’t care.” Junior Camryn Castillo said, “It’s dumb because it can genuinely be helpful to the students because I know for me it helps me focus on my work and complete my tasks.” Junior Halsey Ha Martinez said,“To be honest, I don’t even use my AirPods that much without my phone.”
A major reason behind the policy is kids using the headphones to cheat in classes or tests despite not being allowed to use them during either of those examples. By using AirPods, kids are able to cheat by playing answers through the earpiece during an assignment or any school-related activity.
Even though Seven Hills is doing this and many students feel like it’s just Seven Hills being mean, it’s not. Many schools all throughout Ohio and the US have put in place phone and headphone policies. On May 15th 2024, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a technology ban for k-12 schools all throughout Ohio limiting technology usage during school hours. Last year, when the rules were introduced, I vividly remember many kids being upset with the phone policy. Yet, many kids did not care that much about it and were just worried about what was going to happen with their music as it plays a huge part in their lives and helps them through struggles and life in general.
In conclusion, I believe that there are two sides to every argument and that the music and headphone policy is another great example of this. Teachers say how they want kids to interact more, and kids say they just want to listen to their music and get through the day, but my personal opinion is that there should be some rules set in place, but the policy itself should be loosened up a little bit.
