The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
americanaffairsjournal.org
The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
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Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#2Nice rant! I think a lot of what the author complains about is already obsolete, our school system (privileged city in Oregon) went through the chromebook/tablet mania and already got rid of them again. As far as I can tell the only "tech" they use are electronic whiteboards. The curriculum across liberal arts and science seems almost indistinguishable from what I learned in high school in the 80s. In Germany.
Still, this was a real gem:
> "How did we get here? The American public education system, a rusted-out 1976 mustard sedan whose “check engine” light is always on, is driven by a psychopath who wants, by turns, to crash it for the insurance, to insist that cars can be submarines, and to spend hilarious sums on unnecessary parts."
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#3I was considered a gifted child from a young age. In third grade, because of my "giftedness", I was told I could just read instead of participating in the class skit of the planets of the solar system. I used that time to complete the entire Chronicles of Narnia (good books btw - skip The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle though). I've wondered what would happen if we scrapped the most useless 30% of my state's school curriculum and instead replaced it with reading time.
I know sports generally have a metric of "Wins above Replacement" where players are measured in how many wins they are expected to add to their team over a hypothetical average player for their position. I've wondered if you could similarly measure "Learning above reading" where your curriculum is measured in how much the student learns in comparison to if they had just sat down and read a book of their choosing for the same amount of time.
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#4"the use of technology in schools actually lowers test scores in reading, math, and science, damages long-term memory, and induces addiction" - citation needed.
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#5I was considered a gifted child from a young age. In third grade, because of my "giftedness", I was told I could just read instead of participating in the class skit of the planets of the solar system. I used that time to complete the entire Chronicles of Narnia (good books btw - skip The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle though). I've wondered what would happen if we scrapped the most useless 30% of my state's s…
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#6"the use of technology in schools actually lowers test scores in reading, math, and science, damages long-term memory, and induces addiction" - citation needed.
I don’t think it’s an extraordinary claim. Both sides of this have common sense validity.
I think you can just as much be expected to provide a citation if you disagree.
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#7"Education is the cultivation of a person, not the manufacture of a worker"
It's neither; the american school system is a socialized daycare so that their parents can go work a full day without worrying about what their kids are up to.
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#8Our elementary school uses chromebooks from 1st grade on, and I do see a lot of downsides.
The most outrageous problem, IMO, is that there are 'modules' that must be completed, and kids with computer access at home can work on them at home. Kids from low income families are screwed over - again.
Other problems
- spellcheck is always on, why learn real spelling when the computer fixes it for you?
- The de-emphasis on handwriting is mentioned in the article. In-class assignments are still handwritten, but take-home projects can be typed.
- A lot of 'educational' games are regular games with a minimal pretense of education value. Frogger is still Frogger, even if there's some notion of jumping to the lily pad with the right sum.
- Same for 'educational' youtube videos. youtube is blocked on my kid's devices, despite insistence that there are channels where they do scientific experiments. The videos are more about funny jokes than the different phases of matter.
( youtube is a funny one. Non-tech parents always tell me how great kid's youtube is. Tech parents are always like "f yea, of course you block youtube" )
Plus the last thing my kid needs is more screentime. I don't want to have to sit next to them all night making sure that they are only doing 'productive' work.
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#9"the use of technology in schools actually lowers test scores in reading, math, and science, damages long-term memory, and induces addiction" - citation needed.
There are 38 citations in TFA
Re: The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
#10Once we got laptops in high school, almost all of the down-time after completing assignments that I used to spend reading in middle school was converted to playing Flash games or screwing around with GarageBand.