While walking through the school doors or sitting in class, students at McAuliffe are reminded repeatedly by teachers and deans around the school to take out their headphones and put them away. Most schools have identical rules like being on time for class, being respectful to others, and other rules like that, but one of the most constantly reminded rules is to put away your headphones. Schools convey that headphones distract students, but wearing headphones while doing independent work promotes many benefits of learning.
Wearing headphones while working can create a good learning environment, improving student’s focus and increasing success at school. Headphones allow students to stay concentrated while working in class and increase focus. A classroom can have a lot of background noise. Some might have struggled when working with other noises, especially students with selective hearing, whose mind drifts to other things if there are too many distractions. Having headphones would cancel all distractions so students can focus on their work, rather than what the other students are doing. A 2007 study shows that music benefits the brain to absorb new information and to pay more attention to class. In another study in 2011, 41 boys with ADHD who had background music had improved performances than those without.
A class can be exhausting for students and challenging to get your work done. Research from 2019 shows that listening to music activates reward centers in the brain so that work in class will be less of a task, and instead motivates students to work. Music is very beneficial. Having it while working will improve the attitudes and performance of students for the better, as shown in these studies.
While there are some things to consider in allowing students to wear headphones during class, music can be distracting, so the students might not listen to the teachers, or teachers could play background music. But by limiting music to only independent work, students can listen to music without affecting class. While some teachers do play music, it’s not always what the students want to hear, and can’t focus if it is something they don’t enjoy. These solutions will allow students to wear headphones while not affecting their education.
Although teachers and parents think having headphones in class will distract students from learning, you should consider the benefits that allow students to focus on improving their school productivity and performance.