Gareth Parker-Jones, Head Master of Rugby School, on why regulated phone use and unregulated time to play, learn and socialise are vital for our young people

I recently attended a meeting with 15 CEOs from diverse industries. They were collectively bemoaning the work habits of their Gen Z staff.  As the only educationalist in the room, I was blamed for shortcomings in the education system and for its failure to produce sufficiently robust employees. The conversation was a jovial one and in more serious moments they did speak positively about this particular age group. Nevertheless, the conversation did bring to mind Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation.

Haidt’s book makes two key points. First, unregulated access to smartphones has done and continues to do significant damage to children. Second, a culture of ‘safetyism’, developed over more than 40 years, has produced children who have been mollycoddled and, as a result, are reluctant to take part in adventurous play or to seize opportunities where an element of risk is involved.

“Perceived risks in the real world have been greatly exaggerated, while the genuine risks of the online world have been ignored”

Haidt’s verdict on smartphones has attracted the most column inches and it is reassuring that most schools have now imposed restrictions on their use. These restrictions have been received gratefully by parents, and even more importantly by pupils, who increasingly understand the opportunity cost of excessive smartphone use. The impact of ‘safetyism’ has received less attention, but is equally important. Many children born in this millennium have experienced a childhood where perceived risks in the real world have been greatly exaggerated, while the genuine risks of the online world have been ignored.

Schools like Rugby provide an antidote to these two modern problems. Smartphones have long been banned from our classrooms. We also impose strict limits on mobile phone use outside the classroom. This allows our students to have more face-to-face interactions with each other and to engage wholeheartedly, and without electronic interruption, in the adventurous group activities where they learn the skills which are so important for making the most of life at school and for thriving after school. These include team sports, CCF, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions and a full community action programme, which every child takes part in on Wednesday afternoons.

Just as important are the opportunities for the students to have fun and spend unregulated time with each other, busy or not. We have more than 30 student bands, each of which has to find the time to practise and manage the dynamics of group performance. There are informal games of sport long into the summer evenings, which I often see from my study window.  Students are learning about collaboration, managing their reactions, forging real-time friendships, discovering what they are good at and what they like doing – without other-world distraction.

We can safely and confidently provide these opportunities, organised or not, because we are a full boarding school with the time and space to educate beyond the classroom. Perhaps the most important element of a full boarding school is the House system.  Our boarding houses have approximately 50 students with 10 in each year group. There is something magical in the way that 10 students who come together at the age of 13 learn – despite, or perhaps because of, the inevitable squabbles and conflicts – how to live together successfully in a community and absorb the vital life skills that transport them beyond the Gen Z stereotypes presented by my CEO friends.

Rugby School rugbyschool.co.uk

Further reading: Online and legal – why children need digital education

Feature Featured Gareth Parker-Jones independent schools Jonathan Haidt senior senior school Sixth Form