Anonymous
Post 12/27/2025 12:43     Subject: Re:The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
My kid is starting kindergarten next year. We are trying to give the kids a no screens childhood, with the exception of FaceTiming grandparents who live far away. We don’t own a TV and no tablets or other devices available for the kids.

I am so stressed about what I witnessed when I toured our local “good” public school. Smart boards in every classroom and a room full of kindergarteners on computers. I saw kids watching Numberblocks and others learning the alphabet through slides on the smart board. I just don’t understand why we as a society have accepted this as the norm.

We don’t have top private school money and are scrambling to find low cost options but we’re not religious and we’re also very liberal politically and multicultural so not a fit everywhere. I am typing this because I’m at the point of screaming into the void.
Anonymous
Post 12/27/2025 11:33     Subject: Re:The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would love to know whether people think that EdTech is more harmful during the elementary years or middle school years. I accept that screens will be ubiquitious by 8th grade, but trying to decide what to do up to that point. We pulled DS out of public school during early elementary school in large part due to EdTech. He's now in a religious private and learning with pencil and paper.


By 6th sixth grade our public schools use Chromebooks for some subjects. Obviously they use pencil and paper for math and paper back novels to bring home but some of the content on Chromebook is superior to just reading a textbook. One example I did with my son was from, not PBS but a similar type of programs on world geography. After studying the countries within each continent the studies ended with a program that had
15 to 20:minute summarizations of each country. This was followed by questions on the summary they just watched. There was no skipping around, no cheating, no copying.

There are some quality educational productions offered. I don’t understand why so many want to go back in time. A lot of projects they do are printed out and on Chrome.

And cursive needs to be abolished. I was trying to read my doctor’s note on a referral and couldn’t. It was chicken scratch cursive. Very few adults are good at making cursive legible.


Exhibit A lol
Anonymous
Post 12/26/2025 19:56     Subject: Re:The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:I would love to know whether people think that EdTech is more harmful during the elementary years or middle school years. I accept that screens will be ubiquitious by 8th grade, but trying to decide what to do up to that point. We pulled DS out of public school during early elementary school in large part due to EdTech. He's now in a religious private and learning with pencil and paper.


By 6th sixth grade our public schools use Chromebooks for some subjects. Obviously they use pencil and paper for math and paper back novels to bring home but some of the content on Chromebook is superior to just reading a textbook. One example I did with my son was from, not PBS but a similar type of programs on world geography. After studying the countries within each continent the studies ended with a program that had
15 to 20:minute summarizations of each country. This was followed by questions on the summary they just watched. There was no skipping around, no cheating, no copying.

There are some quality educational productions offered. I don’t understand why so many want to go back in time. A lot of projects they do are printed out and on Chrome.

And cursive needs to be abolished. I was trying to read my doctor’s note on a referral and couldn’t. It was chicken scratch cursive. Very few adults are good at making cursive legible.
Anonymous
Post 12/26/2025 11:06     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Naw. Screens are an integral part of our lives. They belong in schools.

Not going back to slate and chalk. Nope.


You will when you see the absolute morons that the next generation is turning out to be. They can't focus on anything at all.


The person to whom you are responding is simple minded and is absolutely the type to keep going with anything new, even if it ultimately proves to be inferior.

Those who care about results will shift to what actually works, even if it's more effort. It's easier to stick children in front of a TV for instance, so many families did that as soon as televisions became widespread. Others continued to read to their children. Everyone could see the outcome. Nevertheless, many parents still preferred the TV to the effort of reading books with their little ones.

This will be no different.

Insisting on no/low-tech, advocating for it in the schools and pulling for private or homeschool to make sure your children have that kind of education is effort and can mean sacrifice, and some parents feel like they have done enough by moving into a "good" school district, driving their children around in newer luxury vehicles and paying for camp.

It is what it is.

Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 10:28     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:I am a MoCo elementary teacher and we do not use the Chromebook except for projects that require research and tests. They have a writing lab or math coding and escape room challenges if they finish early. I also do not solely rely on slides but more often use it to project my camera and such. It really is better for kids.


If kids finish early, why not give them some paper to write on or draw? Or have them read a book? When kids pull out Chromebooks, it distracts the other kids who naturally want to know what they are doing.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 10:12     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:It would help if my county actually provided paper to teachers — I don’t get paid enough to buy box after box of copy paper to get around needing to use the Chromebooks.

-ES teacher (not in MoCo but in MD)


I’ve never understood how the public schools are unable to provide basic supplies to teachers when the per-pupil spending is as high as it is. Our parochial’s per-pupil spending is probably half of what the public schools spend, yet we’re not at all short on supplies. I do wish the teachers were better-compensated, but I doubt that teacher salaries alone account for the difference. I’m guessing it’s the very high admin costs
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 00:28     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
It would help if my county actually provided paper to teachers — I don’t get paid enough to buy box after box of copy paper to get around needing to use the Chromebooks.

-ES teacher (not in MoCo but in MD)
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 22:47     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:lol now that you people banned phones and that didn't magically solve all problems you're looking for something else to blame.

hint - this isn't it either



Why are some parents so invested in their kids having smartphones at school?
Anonymous
Post 12/23/2025 22:46     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
lol now that you people banned phones and that didn't magically solve all problems you're looking for something else to blame.

hint - this isn't it either
Anonymous
Post 12/23/2025 22:40     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
I am a MoCo elementary teacher and we do not use the Chromebook except for projects that require research and tests. They have a writing lab or math coding and escape room challenges if they finish early. I also do not solely rely on slides but more often use it to project my camera and such. It really is better for kids.
Anonymous
Post 12/22/2025 11:13     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have this acquaintance who always said she works in education and sends her kid to a Waldorf school. Just googled to see she works at one of these edtech/ai companies. Makes sense!
Where I live, the options are no tech Christian schools where it is a MAGA crowd that left public bc they were spooked by trans bathrooms or covid masks. Or public where it’s 1:1 chromebooks. I am torn on how to oroceed.


What age for the Chromebooks? If it’s elementary I would leave.


Where have you been. All elementary kids get Chromebooks now


No, it's usually iPads for little kids. Chromebooks for 3rd, 4th, 5th, or even 6th, depending on the school district. I've never seen computers for K-2nd.


LCPS gives Chromebooks in kinder. But for kinder they keep them in the classroom. They start going home in first grade.
Anonymous
Post 12/09/2025 22:19     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
Every single person that profits from edtech is a disgusting POS
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2025 20:27     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
They are pushing back in LA https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/la-parents-kids-school-issued-ipad-chromebook-los-angeles-rcna245624
Anonymous
Post 12/04/2025 22:29     Subject: Re:The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
HS teacher here. The brain rot is real. Teenagers are doomed and with robots and AI the vast majority of our children will be homeless and delinquents.
Anonymous
Post 12/04/2025 14:41     Subject: The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
FCPS is laptops in grade 1