My argument against any phones from school start to end is that socialization and interpersonal skills are also learned in school.
Having a distraction box at hand slows that process.
Grade school kids aren't tiny adults: they're actively building the pieces that make them into adults (self control, emotional regulation, empathy, cooperation, etc).
I don't trust Google or Apple to sacrifice profits, at scale, to support those goals.
I agree with you. Also grew up through the full 90. To me, school is school, all of it. Not school, not school, but all time at school is: school. and imo personal devices in school is really bad news: period.
If they're in class, then 99% chance it's distracting them from learning. If they're not, I think personal autonomy is a good rule.