How a $30 Billion Screen Experiment Failed Our Children

So first one.

Again, great article from Tracy Beans and Michelle Edwards.

This is actually from the highwire.com. And this is the $30 billion experiment that failed our children.

So I'm going to just, you know, hit some highlights here, talk a little bit about some of the excerpts from here, and then we'll chat about it.

So obviously, again, screen time.

big issue, lots of money being spent on it.

Okay, so first thing is James Welch, who teaches American politics at a high school in Maine, his classroom runs entirely on screens.

Students write blogs, trade articles, pull up videos mid-discussion.

But a few years ago, he noticed something wrong with the writing.

Essays submitted digitally had grown choppy.

Whole passages looked copied.

The fluency he expected wasn't there, so he changed the routine.

In some courses, Welch now requires students to write first drafts by hand.

So this is your first clue, right? He's seeing things here.

He's noticing a big difference now when you switch everything to technology with these kids, and he's seeing these big issues coming with that.

That's a big deal.

That's something to take a look at.

Why is this? Well, because when we look at the numbers, we see that American schools have spent roughly $30 billion on educational technology in 2024.

I have to put that in there, okay, in 24, which is 10 times what they spent on textbooks the same year.

The goal was to modernize instruction, close equity gaps, and prepare students for a digital future.

So, John, how do you think that went?

Yeah.

It's a challenging one because I'm sure it didn't go well, but give me the numbers, I guess.

Yeah, so it is a challenging one.

So what they have found, and there's a lot of pieces to this, so again, I'm going to hit the highlights.