Any hope to minimize screens?

[Anonymous]

Our kids really just gave up on school at the end of last term- and just told us they spent most the day playing video games on their Chromebooks. The teachers some times police this but I think just gave up as the year came to a close.

MAP scores were way down ( even dropped for the whole year, lower in summer than fall). MCPS is not teaching our kids to learn- they are teaching them to veg out all day!

The kids are apparently sharing Google docs with links to games. And keep adding new ones as old ones get blocked.


Has anyone had any luck with their school to restrict Chromebook video game time?

Are we supposed to accept our kids being turned into screen addicts?

Good article on where we are now with Chromebooks-

https://johnallenwooden.substack.com/p/ok-google-make-middle-school-suck?r=3833nx&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true&fbclid=IwY2xjawLkvv1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRcTloYVdid2RNQlZtSzlaAR7BZsUGDYIVs5nh2JvynTagWB0SAOAZzaIqUOSzipiB5E6auoCsT2SKY5nzTg_aem_JRU8G06Spes_thGGKTDhkA

[Anonymous]

What grades?

[Anonymous]

4th and 5th. I think things were better in the past- now they get “free time” to work on assignments. Which means they play video games.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher I am planning on going back to pencil and paper assignments for this upcoming school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher I am planning on going back to pencil and paper assignments for this upcoming school year.

I will as much as possible, but I need up to date textbooks and working copy machines and printers.

[Anonymous]

A major focus at my middle school is only using Chromebooks when it’s totally necessary. We went back to a cart model. There are teachers who are resistant to this change, but most see the benefits for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A major focus at my middle school is only using Chromebooks when it’s totally necessary. We went back to a cart model. There are teachers who are resistant to this change, but most see the benefits for kids.

What middle school?

Kids are on chrombooks A Lot. Should be reading time instead but they do not read.

Tests are digital. They teach to test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4th and 5th. I think things were better in the past- now they get “free time” to work on assignments. Which means they play video games.

So you don’t want teachers to give time to work on assignments? What should happen is an audit of kids computer usage and actions follow accordingly. That and it sounds like longer assignments.

[Anonymous]

What if you switched your perspective on this? Is it possible that the students were supposed to be writing an essay, creating a presentation, etc., and were sneaking around and playing video games instead? Does your child have a responsibility to be doing what they are supposed to be doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you switched your perspective on this? Is it possible that the students were supposed to be writing an essay, creating a presentation, etc., and were sneaking around and playing video games instead? Does your child have a responsibility to be doing what they are supposed to be doing?

DP. This is why schools should be eliminating laptops whenever possible. Write essays on paper, then type out the final draft like students used to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4th and 5th. I think things were better in the past- now they get “free time” to work on assignments. Which means they play video games.

So you don’t want teachers to give time to work on assignments? What should happen is an audit of kids computer usage and actions follow accordingly. That and it sounds like longer assignments.

Elementary students can work on assignments without using a tablet.

[Anonymous]

The English teachers at my HS school are switching to paper due to AI use. So many late assessments turned in at the end of the quarter were obviously written with AI. So, easy to catch. Students had nothing to lose though. 0 for nothing turned in vs 0 for AI use. No risk to them. Some other consequence should be applied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The English teachers at my HS school are switching to paper due to AI use. So many late assessments turned in at the end of the quarter were obviously written with AI. So, easy to catch. Students had nothing to lose though. 0 for nothing turned in vs 0 for AI use. No risk to them. Some other consequence should be applied.

That’s going to be interesting since teaching kids AI literacy and usage is already under review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you switched your perspective on this? Is it possible that the students were supposed to be writing an essay, creating a presentation, etc., and were sneaking around and playing video games instead? Does your child have a responsibility to be doing what they are supposed to be doing?

There's a line of thinking that some of these video games are addictive. A small group of parents in MCPS has been tearing their hair out about this for years. Their kids have ADHD and are more susceptible to addictive behaviors. The parents are doing everything they can do (meds, after school sports, consequences at home, requesting teachers to move back to paper). It's one of the reasons that parents of means withdraw their kids to private schools.

[Anonymous]

We just opted out, no computer use until high school.