Some 72% of public high school teachers in the United States say that cell phone distraction among their students is a major problem, according to a study published by the Pew Research Center. Mary Frances Ruskell, a senior at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, South Carolina, shares her thoughts on classroom phone bans.

We often visit schools and classrooms to join "walk-throughs" with principals and their supervisors. As the new year begins, we find ourselves with two questions.

Preliminary numbers show a dramatic increase in books removed from school classrooms and libraries—over 10,000 instances of bans during 2023-2024, with Florida and Iowa at the front. Researchers expect this number—more than double the bans seen in the previous school year— will rise even higher.