Chimpanzees know how to use Ipads. The idea that we need them to teach kindergarteners is absurd. They have been pushed by these companies (Apple, Microsoft, Google) and only served to make those companies wealthier than they already were. The same way that AI is being pushed but actually making things worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love our tech free classical. When kids have 10 minutes to blow, they get sent outside for extra recess.

What school?

I’m not the previous classical school poster but will not share the name of our small, classical, no tech K-8. While derided by the public and tech-laden privates , just know that our kids are reading several, whole books, writing in long hand script, taking lecture notes in notebooks, studying Latin and memorizing great works of poetry while having memorized our times tables for math fluency. Just google “classical school near me” and research what comes up.

Anonymous wrote:Love our tech free classical. When kids have 10 minutes to blow, they get sent outside for extra recess.

What school?

Love our tech free classical. When kids have 10 minutes to blow, they get sent outside for extra recess.

Check out k-8s like Sheridan, they do not use technology in lower grades.

When we were looking at Pre-K, K some years ago, several schools touted their Ipads or Chrome books -- even for lower grade kids. It was seen as a good thing. Now some schools are going back to old-school paper and pencil type of assignments because of AI and other negative consequences of using tech in school.

The EdTech industry has finally been exposed for the grift that it is. It does not improve learning and studies show the opposite quite frankly. iPad/ Chromebook use is teacher-dependent but many use them as crowd control and there is less actual teaching going on. Just app management. So… unless you specifically choose a tech-free school, you don’t really know what you will get and it could vary year to year. Private Schools were in tech-races and shouts of 1:1 splashed on their websites have quietly started to roll back bc kids suffered, parents complained and scores dropped… but, the investment and grift is so great I don’t see it ever going away except at alternative (ie Waldorf) or classical schools. Plus, lazy teachers really lean in so they can do less. I find it amusing that a few short years ago the “1:1” advert is now replaced with “whole books!”

Your natural students will navigate it but miss out on great opportunities. And the not so great students who could have benefited from more time reading and writing with pencil in hand will suffer greatly. If I had a do-over, I’d pay for tech-free private k-8.

Before the pandemic, public schools were trying to be 1:1 ipads because it was The Future or whatever. So it's pretty common in public. I don't think any parents like it.

Private schools do have ipads - I don't think it's 100% avoidable. Our school uses ipads for standardized tests, to watch videos in language class, for games like Stack the States. Starting in middle school the text books are on ipad, but the work is still done on paper, e.g., copying the problems from the ipad text book to the page and solving them there.

They are barely used at our school. I think it is more for introducing concepts on using technology, than actually using them. It is a minimal screen time school that has all this tech for no good reason.

I am looking at both private and public (ACPS) options for kindergarten next fall.

I was surprised to see that some schools are offering individual ipads in kindergarten. Is this the normal? are there any schools that do not use technology like this?

for those that do, what has the experience been like?