I’m at the point where I wish I had more reasons to use pen and paper because I have a couple fountain pens I really want to use more.
Unfortunately my entire work is computer based and it does not make sense to put my notes on paper because I write them as documentation for my work.
On the one hand, I’m skeptical of the assertions that pen and paper is inherently a better way to take notes and learn.
But I do agree with the general aversion to a lot of ed tech. So much effort to shove kids faces in front of softwear and hardware that was sold to administrators by marketing teams from big tech companies. So many opportunities for those tech companies to exploit local school districts, ether to extract unreasonable profits, or for access to a mailable locked in user base.
If a school is going to go all in teaching with computers, they need to be carefully choosing what they use and not just adopting a premade package from some tech company.
Educational research is a bit of an anomaly, in that it has the lowest replication study rate of any “real” scientific discipline. There are lots of reasons for that, but it means that you can cherry pick individual studies to support just about any pedagogical (teaching) practice.
That said, the evidence is pretty clear that there is higher retention for most learners when writing by hand. Even writing with a stylus on the screen seems to lead to lower retention. There’s something about the multisensory input learners get from pencil and paper that seems to make a difference.
That said, that doesn’t mean there’s no places for Ed tech. In particular, students learn how to write better when they can edit their text, which happens a lot faster with a word processor. Digital science labs allow for quick exploration of a topic in minutes instead of needing a full class period for setup and clean up.
But it should only be used when appropriate, imho as a K-12 educator and parent.
Writing by hand is a good way to get fine eye hand coordination. I think, at least for younger kids, writing should be primary during development. Around 12 years of age it could be phased towards computers instead.
??? just install linux.
Did you read the article in any depth? What the software is, isn’t the only rationale.
The rationales of tech-illiterate helicopter parents are not the only ones worth discussing.
They’re probably the majority, for whom moving to Linux solves nothing. It goes too for handwriting.
Somehow, I doubt the Venn Diagram of parents with the time, resources and energy to move their kids off technology without hurting their education versus those with the time, resources and energy to get their kids their own laptops is much less round and overlapping than a singular circle. In otherwords, the exceptions on either end are just that, tiny little slivers, and neither close to anything like “the majority”.
You’re half-right that the OS can seem irrelavent, but suggesting Linux is far less extreme than suggesting the removal of tech entirely.
These kids would rather have Steam-decks. They would probably learn more from owning them, and yes, being forced to take regular analog breaks from their use. Steam-decks run Linux, btw…
… but no, an educational, social, play and extra-curricular world defined entirely by parents’ biases is obviously best, the one thing we should all agree on.
No seriously, stay away from my kids. Their hand-writing is probably better than yours.
Somehow, I doubt the Venn diagram…
That’s why I asked if you read the article and now I’m wondering if you have experience raising and schooling children. I did read it, the article doesn’t just focus on ‘windows bad’ or ‘AI bad’. I have schooled and raised several kids, including homeschooling and fostered, so not only am I aware that each kid works better with a different approach, many parents, and I know this from personal experience, prefer that their kids do and submit handwritten work. Whatever their rationale is.
You’re half right…suggesting Linux is far less extreme
And fine for the group that is concerned and wants to maintain teaching with tech. However, as I said that’s not the only reason or rationale for parents.
These kids would rather have Steam Decks
A lot of kids would.
Steam decks run Linux
And?
but no…
Again, that lack of knowledge about raising them is showing.
Stay away from my kids
So no need to be an arsehole about it because nothing I’ve said suggested that kind of response. That one deserves a ‘fuck you’. Given what you’ve showed here, I’d be somewhat concerned about their well-being.
I’ve probably changed more daipers than all but a few of the women you’ve met, but do go-on. “Stay away from my kids” deserves a fuck you? Go to hell where you belong. My kids aren’t sheltered from the internet and the wider world - I would be in prison if I were half the skeeve you’ve implied I was - but people like you rightly give them the ick.
You have no more understanding of technology or proper parenting than these, frankly, luddites, who themselves seem more ignorant than your average amish or mennonite. Those groups at least grasp the choices they must make to support their lifestyles in the modern-world and make them with intention versus faith and belief, rather than from a place of “I don’t control it from top to bottom, so its gross”.
Oh, and I read your stupid article about Los Angeles suburbanites, same as the other article it references about Los Angeles suburbanites. Really enlightened, salt-of-the-earth stuff. Reminded me why I left Southern California on multiple levels.
I don’t think the school district is very keen on wiping their laptops and installing your own OS on them.
I don’t think school districts have any business renting-out years-old Chromebooks full of spyware for amounts that could buy a newer laptop, but here we are.
Couple of weeks-ago, I had to basically trick my daughter’s Chromebook into caching a lesson at a resolution high enough for her to tell that her snow-day packet’s math problems actually were part of the lesson. There was no option to download the video or watch it on another device(also tried, even casting it to a TV wasn’t available).
… but yeah, what the district and Google are cool with is super-important. They don’t even use books.
