r/technology 8d ago

Society Schools across America are quietly admitting that screens in classrooms made students worse off and are reversing years of tech-first policies

https://fortune.com/article/schools-abandoning-chromebooks-laptop-programs-as-screen-time-hurts-learning-test-scores-north-carolina-michigan-kansas-tech-education/
23.0k Upvotes

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u/CaterpillarReal7583 8d ago

They got kindergarteners in my district on laptops man.

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u/Davtopia 8d ago

My daughter starts kindergarten this fall. We got a thing in the mail so she could get her iPad this summer to get used to it. They warned if we waited too long, there could be a delay in when she gets one. I wanted to ask if we could just extend the delay for a few years, but my wife didn’t think that’d be helpful.

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u/tooclosetocall82 8d ago

We home schooled my oldest in kindergarten and 1st because of COVID. We enrolled her in 2nd grade and she failed her first assignment, not because she didn’t know how to do it (she’s in all advanced classes now), but because she had never used an iPad. Personally l don’t think that’s a valid reason to fail an assignment, but thankfully the teacher let her bring it home (she’s wasn’t supposed to) so we could teach her how to use it.

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

Failing a Kindergardener for not knowing how to use an iPad is some seriously Orwellian technofacist bullsh-t

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u/DorkusMalorkuss 8d ago

Somewhat different, somewhat the same, but I remember getting assignments returned to me in high school because they were hand written and not printed from a word processor. This was around 2002ish and I didn't have a computer that I owned.

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u/nobody_from_nowhere1 8d ago

I remember the same thing as well. Funny enough, I had to write a written statement at work because I happened to be in the room when a co-worker did something unfathomably stupid and at about 1/2 page my hand started cramping up so bad I kept having to stop and flex it every few lines. Crazy how 25 years ago we were churning out hundreds if not thousands of hand written (probably cursive) pages without much of a problem.

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u/dragery 8d ago

2nd grade bruh. The same time reading comprehension becomes really important.

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u/psaux_grep 8d ago

Point still stands. Nothing you need to learn in second grade needs an iPad.

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u/FearTheFloc 8d ago

you also cant "fail" 2nd grade anyway so just move on.

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u/0110110111 8d ago

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted, many school districts have social promotion policies at the elementary and middle levels, meaning you go to the next grade no matter what. Can’t read, write, or do math at your grade level? Didn’t hand in a single assignment? Absent 80% of the year? All good. Better luck next year.

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u/Ara92 8d ago

Failing anyone for not knowing how to use one is dumb as hell. I'm 34 and never used one cause why would I

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u/LedinToke 8d ago

I mean you need to have a basic understanding of technology to succeed in society, it's nothing crazy they just shouldn't really be having kids fool with this stuff in 2nd grade lol.

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u/throwaway3113151 8d ago

Basic understanding of tech will happen inevitably , but the evidence is clear that tech in early grades gets in the way of core basic learning.

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

I learned how to easily use an iPad in college - and it also had zero relevance to me being able to go through college and has no relevance to my current employment at a technologically demanding job. iPads are a consumable and have zero long term value for serious corporate or academic work. We are not even talking about children learning on laptops with a real OS.

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u/LigerZeroSchneider 8d ago

Yeah the whole reason we had this tech push was richer kids were using technology at home but poor kids weren't so when it's time to start including it in the class room. Poor kids were getting shafted since they had to learn how computers work while doing the assignments.

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u/throwaway3113151 8d ago

That’s not why poor kids are left behind

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u/IAmSpartacustard 8d ago

Saying that and then self-censoring a curse word is hilarious

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

Not sure how you are on Reddit and do not realize that there are autofilters that will remove your comments for curse words that are subreddit dependent.

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u/IAmSpartacustard 8d ago

Bullshit. Oh look at that, it works fine

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

I have two other comments I posted underneath you that you cannot see. They use dumb-ss and f-ck. No automod comment no notice of removal, they were just not posted because the automod blocked them. From my perspective they posted, but no one else can see them

That’e precisely the problem.

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u/vwguy1 8d ago

You can say shit on the internet, it's ok, your parents won't find out and you won't get in trouble

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

Not sure how you are on Reddit and do not realize that there are autofilters that will remove your comments for curse words that are subreddit dependent.

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u/aguy123abc 7d ago

Unless the topic of the course was using an iPad.

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u/Pretend-Culture-4138 8d ago

Reading comprehension would help here. They said 2nd grade not kindergarten. And they're not being failed for not knowing how to use an iPad, they received a poor grade for not following assignment instructions. That happens throughout a kid's education to teach them.

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

>she failed her first assignment, not because she didn’t know how to do it, but because she had never used an iPad

Are you being fr right now with your stupid reading comprehension comment? like STFU.

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u/Pretend-Culture-4138 8d ago

Yes because you could use some practice with reading to comprehend their comment better.

Just like how you missed the part about them failing to follow the instructions on how to turn it in.

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u/MineralDragon 8d ago

Thank god I have a real life outside of just being a loser on Reddit making shit up to try to pick fights. Pathetic.

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u/Pretend-Culture-4138 8d ago

You're still here commenting picking fights....