An Oklahoma father has challenged his son’s school after discovering the boy watched as many as 120 YouTube videos during school hours in just four days. His complaint, aired at a school board meeting, has sparked a wider discussion about how much screen time children should get in class and what they do once their work is finished.
A parent-teacher conference raises alarm
Jeff Howard’s son attends a K-12 school in the Carl Albert district, part of the Oklahoma City metro area. Last week, Howard met the boy’s teachers at Carl Albert Middle School, where he learned that students were allowed to watch YouTube and listen to music during free time.
Howard then checked his son’s viewing history and took his concerns to the Mid-Del Public Schools Board of Education on Oct. 12. "My son has watched 120 videos from Monday through Thursday, and I checked the time code, and they were all during school hours," he told the board. He said the boy was hooked on the videos and was even using them to work out answers on his tests.
Six minutes, then two
Howard said one teacher pointed out that his son had scored 17 on an assignment after spending six minutes on it, then retook it and spent only two. "I said, ‘I know exactly what he’s doing,’" Howard recalled.
In his view, the boy was rushing so he could get back to the screen. "He wants to get it done so he can watch another YouTube video. He’s a great kid, but he’s addicted to screens," he said.
After Howard spoke with the teachers, the school limited his son to music only during free time.
Howard knows students cannot use personal phones under the state’s bell-to-bell law, but exceptions exist, including Chromebooks. He pointed out that the district had already blocked some sites. "I know that they’ve banned Scratch. So, if they can ban those two, they can ban YouTube," he said, referring also to the reading app Libby.
The superintendent weighs in
Dr. Rick Cobb, who has led Mid-Del Public Schools since 2015, said he was taking mental note of the complaint because "it’s an important conversation for us to have." He said the debate should cover how much screen time is appropriate and whether technology belongs in schools at all.
Cobb drew a line between screen use for lessons and screen use as free time once work is done. He also said teachers should not offer screens as a reward for finishing early. "We don’t want to incentivize students finishing their work fast rather than done well," he said.
He pointed to House Bill 4358, which would have limited students in grades pre-K to 5 to one hour of screen time per school day. It passed the state House 95-0 but did not clear the Senate. Cobb expects the subject to return when the session begins in February.
A wider debate
Oklahoma is not alone. The Los Angeles Unified School District became the first major American school district to ban laptops and tablets in class this year, passing the resolution 6-0. Parents there said their children’s grades had slipped because of distractions from online games, YouTube and social media.
For now, Howard’s son is limited to music during free time, and the district says the conversation is only beginning.
Image credit: Mid-Del Schools/YouTube
Source: Daily Express US
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