I think addressing low motivation levels is beyond the scope of the school's ability to affect things. When I was in high school I remember not caring about much of anything because I was convinced that even though I was almost certainly going to college, I would still just end up in a 'passionless bullshit make-work dead end job' like my parents, working long hours just to eke out a meager living, enough to keep getting back in the goddamn hamster wheel, and that really sapped my will to do anything productive. I ended up being completely right but I'm lucky enough to be living in this era of realization that work in the states is inherently bullshit, and that I make enough money to pursue passions outside of my 8-6.

Oh no, school sucks.

Next level update your /etc/hosts to point time wasting websites to localhost

to answer your question, there is no reason other than america's fetishization of the protestant work ethic.

schools don't need to be a joyless labor camp. you already have to wake up far too early and be there all day, can't you at least be on your phone? maybe give kids a break? everyone has stress in their lives, my anxiety started in 5th grade, maybe i don't have the mental capacity for 7 fucking classes today and i check out after 5. just like no honest person pays full rapt attention every minute of their jobs.

in college you can basically be on your phone during class and i remember just as much from college as i do grade school. either way, you have to study for the exams. if you aren't gonna pay attention, there are plenty of ways to do so. being forced to listen doesn't necessarily increase absorption.

In classrooms children shouldn't remove their phones from their pockets at all, they are there to focus on the class. If we removed our phones from our pockets, they would be confiscated until the end of class, and rightly so.

School is for paying attention and learning, not for going into your own little world on your phone (which we're all guilty of).

Also, the only time you need to use a computer at school is during IT lessons, or study/research sessions. School is the time that we learn and perfect our handwriting abilities, and our abilities to read through books, make notes based on what the teacher is saying, or writing on the blackboard, etc. It is not appropriate to pull out a laptop and use that instead, because that won't teach the child these important hand skills.

I'm talking about primary school and secondary school, and mostly college too. Once the student is 18 and begins university, there's nothing stopping them from using computers or phones, it's up to them to regulate their own attention and such.

I think that's all pretty reasonable and fair.

School logic. Infinite power to punish and restrict, infinite resources to harm and burden, nothing for support or uplift.