I’ve been teaching high school since 1996. Every year, students have arrived at high school less and less literate, less and less curious, less and less able to THINK. They are now arrive at high school 3-6 YEARS below grade level and, according to informal surveys that I have conducted, have more TVs than books in their homes.
I’m not saying that tech is all bad; it’s not. But during their most delicate formative years, children need as little exposure to technology as possible so that their brains can develop properly. We need to remove cell phones, laptops, desktop computers, and Smart TVs from K-8 classrooms. We need textbooks, not e-books. We need to focus on the 3 R’s instead of allowing kids to write with AI.
We cannot control what their parents do with them, but we must have absolute control of the conditions in which they learn – or they will continue learning less and less.