Comment Re:Summit Learning Sounds Good (Score 2) 140
I’m curious if you have children of your own if school age?
I agree that being able to learn on your own is a valuable skill. I also agree that need for instant gratification can be a big problem with -ahem- kids these days.
However, being able to learn for oneself generally assumes a grasp of the basics. The basics can be learned without outside help, but this is horribly inefficient. I have definitely seen a tendency in some of my own kid’s teachers to learn too heavily on computer-based education. I think this is sometimes because it’s assumed to be “cutting edge” and sometimes (as some of their teachers have confessed) because it is easier. Less prep, less fuss. But not necessarily better.
I am not against computer/based education in general, but SOOOO much these days is done without any kind of research to prove effectiveness. It is often assumed it is better because it’s newer. My problem with this stuff is that we as a culture are not patient and methodical in our education research so instead we end up experimenting on a generation of kids. It’s rushed in because Chromebooks are shined and cool, but teachers aren’t taught how to guide kids to use them best.
I think too much screen time is probably not great on its own. But my bigger issue is that the curriculum is far from well thought out and studied.