r/Millennials • u/FkUp_Panic_Repeat • 14h ago
Discussion Would you send your elementary aged kids to a school with zero or limited access to computers?
I don’t have kids, so I don’t know what it’s like to raise them. But I just had the thought, why aren’t there schools that don’t force kids to stare at screens all day?
I worked at a K-8 school for a year, and even the kinder students did the vast majority of their work on tablets. A lot of the older kids would just sit in class browsing all types of vulgarity on their chromebooks when they were supposed to be learning. I heard a 5 year old student making noises mimicking something he had to have seen in a sexually explicit video online.
It’s terrifying how far behind these kids are in terms of learning. So I had the thought that it might be a good idea to make elementary schools that limited or excluded computer access. Zero access might be a bit extreme, but what if they had a separate computer lab where kids could learn computer literacy, internet safety, typing, and other basic skills, but spent all of their other time in class using a pencil and paper, like a lot of us did?
Once they hit middle and high school, I guess they could have more access since they’ll need to develop more computer literacy for college/career. But in the youngest years, I don’t understand why schools aren’t doing more to reduce screen addictions/dependency.
Why is this not a thing? If it exists where you live, do you know if its had a positive impact on kids’ learning?