Some time ago, I read that a significant number of Silicon Valley executives had enrolled their children in schools which were not big users of educational technology. Interesting, somewhat like the management of Coca-Cola telling their kids to lay off the soft drinks.
Fast forward to a January 2, 2016 “Wall Street Journal” article by Naomi Schaefer Riley, “Teach your Children Well: unhook them from Technology.” It describes the use in an increasing number of charter schools of the Waldorf educational methodology, which includes “low technology, delayed formal reading instruction, extensive instruction in art and science, and physical exercises to break up their lessons.”
The interesting part from the standpoint of today’s iDevice-dominated world is the assertion that “teachers … can immediately tell who has been using devices at home. ‘We see it in their behavioral problems, their (in)ability to reason, their cognitive skills, even their (in)ability to communicate with other people.’”
With iDevices in the vast majority of homes, including those of children eligible for Title I funding, “the real digital divide is between parents who realize the harmful effects of technology on their children and try to limit them, and those who don’t.”
Food for thought, especially given the historical lack of correlation between computer penetration and academic improvement.