Reply to Executive Order decreeing "cell-phone free" education in k-12

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would love to see added to this EO that Virginia schools allow no more thank 30 minutes of computer time  for early childhood classes (K-2) [b]per week[/b], no more than 1 hour of computer time for 3rd and 4th grade [b]per week[/b] and no more than 30 minutes of computer time [b]per day[/b] for 5th and 6th grade.

One of the worst things to come out of pandemic school is the over reliance of 1:1 laptops in elementary school.  We know without a doubt that daily screen time is very bad for children's development.

Get back to traditional teaching/shared class carts and ditch the reliance on 1:1 laptops for most of elementary school.[/quote]

This.  My DD just graduated with teaching degree and during her student teaching in early elementary grades she was "required" to have [b]each student read for at least 30 minutes....great right?  Reading on a freaking tablet!![/b]  I mean seriously. I thought that was insane.  Then for logging in...each student was supposed to remember to login to their laptop and use a pw....half the time my DD just did it for them because the amount of time it took 2nd graders to type it all in was excruciatingly slow and time consuming. And this was a Title 1 school with early elementary students already struggling.

And then during an interview up here she asks about cell phone usage policy for students and is told that isn't really the problem - it's the smart watches and kids texting back n forth with their parents that's the issue...because a parent saying "oh, I don't let my elementary age child bring his/her cell phone to school" but turns around and gives them a smartphone is really any better? I haven't ready the EO, but wonder if it mentions anything about smart watches.

[/quote]

What’s the issue with reading on a tablet? It’s the same text that would otherwise be on paper, right? [/quote]

Reading and writing on paper is more sensory than using a tablet or computer.  It is better for brain development.

Screens are not good for childhood development.   In fact, screens are very bad for developing minds.  There are many studies pre-pandemic showing this.

Before school shut downs, every single pediatric appointment strongly emphasized that parents should significantly limit screen access for young kids, and reduce it as mucn as possible for older kids.

Before lockdowns, elementary schools had very little screen use in younger grades.  At most, there was a shared class cart of laptops that were brought in for a weekly lesson, or for a class reward.  Computers were not used daily.  Most classes only had 2 to 3 class computers that elementary kids were rotated through on a very limited basis, usually as a reward.

My 2020 graduate was part of the FCPS pilot class for 1:1 assigned latptops... in 7th grade!  2014, middle school, was the first year FCPS tested a laptop for every student, in any grade younder than high school.  They picked select 7th grade classes throughout the district to try it, then expanded to all of middle school the following year.

Laptops were limited for younger grades, backed by research.

Since pandemic lockdowns, the pediatrician medical groups and education establishment have looked the other way on the issue of the proven negative effects of too much screen time on childhood development.

Screens should not be used in early elementary school, period.
[/quote]

Times are changing. 20 years from now, they’ll be literally attached to us.[/quote]

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