Article that puts into words why I dislike that my kid spends school time on Prodigy and other "learning apps"

[Anonymous]

What do you think of this article in the Atlantic?

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/homework-video-games-ed-tech/687198/?gift=dTslRZHmmCuZTT3prHUggk_dAAzs8Tyf9T0ETwx6Yes&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwY2xjawR5idJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFtdGtrcktvVlBTRjI3N05tc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtoUNMkrrJRKoDLE96YnNbNissEL610zFoBIKGurWVcZe9mdwj8q-k9qDZ95_aem_Es0sNrALIB21srv_3J1A8A

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think of this article in the Atlantic?

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/homework-video-games-ed-tech/687198/?gift=dTslRZHmmCuZTT3prHUggk_dAAzs8Tyf9T0ETwx6Yes&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwY2xjawR5idJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFtdGtrcktvVlBTRjI3N05tc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtoUNMkrrJRKoDLE96YnNbNissEL610zFoBIKGurWVcZe9mdwj8q-k9qDZ95_aem_Es0sNrALIB21srv_3J1A8A

I am already signed up for Schools Beyond Screens and I wish more parents would realize this is about money and keeping kids quiet than education.

[Anonymous]

I despise Prodigy, it's truly one of the worst softawares thrown at our children with zero learning at best, and detrimental effects on attention at the worst.

[Anonymous]

As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

Thank you for your service. This is a sad situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I despise Prodigy, it's truly one of the worst softawares thrown at our children with zero learning at best, and detrimental effects on attention at the worst.

How did anyone ever decide this software would be worthwhile? Who's making money from these contracts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

Thank you for your service. This is a sad situation.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think of this article in the Atlantic?

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/homework-video-games-ed-tech/687198/?gift=dTslRZHmmCuZTT3prHUggk_dAAzs8Tyf9T0ETwx6Yes&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwY2xjawR5idJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFtdGtrcktvVlBTRjI3N05tc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtoUNMkrrJRKoDLE96YnNbNissEL610zFoBIKGurWVcZe9mdwj8q-k9qDZ95_aem_Es0sNrALIB21srv_3J1A8A

Wholeheartedly agree with the point of view. As a Covid kid parent, screens turned my stomach then and still do now. I hope to see change coming.

[Anonymous]

Do your schools use Prodigy as the main learning program or is it a free time activity?
I had to look up what our schools use, apparently it’s DreamBox for math but it’s used as a supplemental free time activity.

I read the reviews on both apps and they are different but have pros and cons. DreamBox focuses on prioritizing pedagogical quality and conceptual understanding while Prodigy uses heavy gamification for kids to stay motivated.

If these programs are used at free time and are not part of the curriculum how bad could they be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

My kindergarten and first graders don't have the attention spans to even sit through an entire Disney movie. They top out at about 15 minutes and then can no longer pay attention.

[Anonymous]

Prodigy is absolutely horrific. It's an awful video game and 5% of the time is math

[Anonymous]

Lexia is great though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lexia is great though.

Lexia is repetitive and slow as hell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

My kindergarten and first graders don't have the attention spans to even sit through an entire Disney movie. They top out at about 15 minutes and then can no longer pay attention.

I believe that. But the said part is these kids have not been read nursery rhymes or fairy tales. They don’t know the 3 Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood. Yes, Snow White is also a fairy tale but they don’t know that one. They’ll answer “The Lion King!” Or “Moana!” Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a public school ES teacher with older teenagers, I would put my kids into a no-screens private school if they were starting kinder now. If this is not resolved before my grandkids, I’m paying for them to attend a no-screens private school.

I do my best and don’t use anything I don’t have to, but our school uses team/grade level planning and I’m not redoing everyone else’s plans. That would go way beyond my contract hours. I’m just buying my time until we retire. Sadly my younger coworkers don’t know how to teach any other way.

And the kids don’t either. We are doing a unit on fairytales and my third graders don’t know any that haven’t been made into Disney movies. Parents need to do better too.

My kindergarten and first graders don't have the attention spans to even sit through an entire Disney movie. They top out at about 15 minutes and then can no longer pay attention.

I believe that. But the said part is these kids have not been read nursery rhymes or fairy tales. They don’t know the 3 Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood. Yes, Snow White is also a fairy tale but they don’t know that one. They’ll answer “The Lion King!” Or “Moana!” Sigh.

I dont think we have a single fairy tale book between my son (8) and daughter (18 mos) but we have at least 100+ books in the house and go to the library bi-weekly. I read daily to both my kids. My daughter sits and "reads" while we clean up dinner. My son does independent 20min at night.

Im not sure fairy tales are a great arbiter. My son knows about them because of pre-school but I just yelled down to him if he knew any fairytales and he answered "Old Woman and the Shoe", which I have never read to him so it is being provided somewhere and I would assume most preschools use fairy tales.