'Beware Silicon Valley's Gifts To Our Schools' (nationalreview.com)

schwit1 shares a National Review report: After three years, there is no proof that Apple's, Google's, and Microsoft's infiltration of the classroom is producing actual academic improvement and results. Take Facebook's efforts for an example. The company -- under fire for privacy breaches worldwide -- is peddling something called "Summit Learning," a web-based curriculum bankrolled by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Last month, students in New York City schools walked out in protest of the program. "It's annoying to just sit there staring at one screen for so long," freshman Mitchel Storman, 14, told the New York Post. He spends close to five hours a day on Summit classes in algebra, biology, English, world history, and physics. Teacher interaction is minimal. "You have to teach yourself," Storman rightly complained. No outside research supports any claim that Summit Learning actually enhances, um, learning. What more studies are showing, however, is that endless hours of screen time are turning kids into zombies who are more easily distracted, less happy, less socially adept, and less physically fit. Standing up to the Silicon Valley Santas and asserting your family's "right to no" may well be the best long-term gift you can give your school-age children.

Comments

Re: Summit Learning Sounds Good

[ShanghaiBill]

TFA was written by Michelle Malkin who is a Filipina-American clone of Ann Coulter.

Re:Um?

[drinkypoo]

Not only did you pen one of the most opinionated pieces of "journalism" ever,

"National Review was founded in 1955 by William F. Buckley Jr. as a magazine of conservative opinion."

but you used a filler-word, um, in a formal written document.

I think it's lazy, but it's typical conversational style.

With all due respect

People who use this phrase never show any, nor are worthy of any.

With all due respect, you're not Slashdot's arbiter of what is worthy of respect.

[from tfa]

Why give captive schoolchildren more tech crack inside the classroom? And what is this âoepersonalized learningâ mumbo jumbo?

mumbo jumbo

What are all these wires? What the hell's a mouse? How do I windows?

Mumbo jumbo is meaningless or confusing language, with the possible connotation that it is deliberate. "The use of the term "personalized learning" dates back to at least the early 1960s, but there is no widespread agreement on the definition and components of a personal learning environment." It's a meaningless phrase used by con men who are trying to sell equipment to educators. Hence, mumbo jumbo. It's a perfectly cromulent use of the word.

Parents from all parts of the political spectrum understand that âoepersonalized learningâ is Silicon Valley propaganda

So much bias it's like all I have is a right speaker.

I refer you back to the top of this comment.

In short, go back to journalism school.

With all due respect, you are fractally incorrect. The closer one looks at your arguments, the more ways in which they are irrelevant and/or incorrect become apparent.

In long, how about you title opinion pieces accordingly and not pretend they are in any way news.

Again, I refer you back to the top of this comment. The site's FAQ tells you that it is an opinion publication. The opinion pieces were collected together for your convenience, but with all due respect, you failed to internet correctly.

Also, go back to any school you attended and demand a refund, then learn how to write a formal document

This is not an invitation to a recital. This is an opinion piece, and it was written as such. Hope this helps, have a nice day!