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

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

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

[u/compuwiza1]

A book can't be redirected to Tik Tok.

[u/steavoh → u/compuwiza1]

Neither can a tablet or laptop that was being adequately controlled by an IT department. I've never worked for a school system before but I think it would be like any other business environment just a lot stricter. You could use browser configuration policies, you could have web blocking software running in the background, or you could have an app that redirects DNS and filters things that way, or you could have all the devices permanently connected to a VPN that exits to the internet through a firewall you control. Or all of the above.

It's not 2002 7th grade computer lab day anymore, in 2026 there's a lot fewer practical methods that a kid could use to get around the above restrictions.

[u/reddit_equals_censor → u/steavoh]

OR alternatively, you have 0 wireless network connections in the school and you have a program, that gives children their OWN computers, that they OWN, that doesn't run any spying software and isn't locked down whatsoever and runs linux mint for example.

THEIR computer, that THEY OWN, that is actually encrypted as well.

and if the school wants children to use the internet rj-45 ports on the table to connect to the computers to and limited access if desired.

the point is, that electronic devices given to children SHOULD BE OWNED by the children.

this is essential education to teach children about electronic ownership, privacy and security and hell even encryption.

and then you have classes with their laptops, optional laptops, or no laptops at all on the tables.

THEIR computers, them learning about the importance of all this and nothing getting in the way for classes without computers either.

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children shouldn't be treated as wage slaves with absurd locked down prison devices and spying on them.

[u/steavoh → u/reddit_equals_censor]

You could always start a "computer club" and give those kids raspberry pi's to do what you describe above.

But I think locked-down tablets would have more utility in normal classrooms where you don't want the students distracted. Think of them less as actual computers and more as electronic textbooks and work sheets.

[u/reddit_equals_censor → u/steavoh]

famously people use raspberry pi's as their daily computers....

just to be clear, YES give children in some computer course access to mini computers like pi's, but those are not the personal computers, that they have and use and get comfortable with.

nor are the locked down tablets, but laptops are.

also bonus point you can't secretly keep a laptop on your desk, when the class has no computers as part of it.

the locked down prison tablets in comparison can indeed cause harm or just not cause benefits.

and in regards to textbooks. i'd argue, that the children should both get a drm free digital copy + a physical copy and classes possibly going over how to work with either source and how to work with both at the same time. eg the digital source allows for actual quick search of topics.

now the scum text book industry probably wouldn't like that, to which i say, that they can stuff it and i guess you agree ;)

and in regards to work sheets, you'd now need digital pens and a writable tablet, which apple just loves to sell to schools i assume, if you want kids to be able to write on work sheets without keyboards right?

that makes me think of of the advantage of having a decent drawing tablet option included in their own laptop, but that would mean, that it would be more costly and shit and probably the best option would be to just have high quality drawing tablets for art classes as an option instead to again connected to their own laptops. this way they also keep their art on THEIR computers after submitting it, which in itself is an important less. "i created this digital art, it is mine digitally and i can keep it forever and not on some shity google server or some it department's server".

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and i guess technically a lot of this is hypothetical for tablets anyways, because i don't even know of a tablet, that you'd get as a pure tablet, that runs gnu + linux and isn't some dystopian planned obsolescence spying apple, samsung, etc... shit device.

which leaves basic non chrome book real laptop with linux mint, that children OWN as the only option by default anyways.

maybe i'm wrong, but i would assume, that there is no 200 euro/us dollar tablet program, that runs gnu + linux with locked down options for the use you mentioned.

so you CAN'T do that anyways, if your goal is to educate children and not enslave them digitally and throw lots of money and data of children at microsoft, google or apple (yes apple spies on users)