I was mostly ambivalent about KOSA and other similar legislative undertaking, but Greg's arguments have persuaded a shift towards concern and/or disapproval. My comment here then is not about free speech, but rather your assertion that, "For many kids, cell phones aid in their learning..."
I assume when you use the word "kids" you are tal…
I was mostly ambivalent about KOSA and other similar legislative undertaking, but Greg's arguments have persuaded a shift towards concern and/or disapproval. My comment here then is not about free speech, but rather your assertion that, "For many kids, cell phones aid in their learning..."
I assume when you use the word "kids" you are talking about K-12th grade students and not "college kids." If my assumption is correct, then as an almost 40-year veteran of teaching kids I can say with near certainty that kids carrying a handheld computer-phone, linked to the internet during the school day, has done nothing but exacerbate the struggles we have faced gaining student attention and engagement in learning. A battery-powered calculator does not "ping" or in any other way signal to a child that something not about the mathematics lesson-activity is going on and "needs" the child's immediate attention. I think the costs-benefits of social media accessible technology in classrooms clearly have been shown to be more costly to kids than beneficial. Tristan Harris and others have argued very persuasively, I think, that capturing and then exploiting attention is a primary aim of social media platforms that can operate through those handheld devices.
Free speech (albeit, crucial for our country and its citizens) aside, learning is not at all aided by the Smart/iphones, but has been undermined.
I was mostly ambivalent about KOSA and other similar legislative undertaking, but Greg's arguments have persuaded a shift towards concern and/or disapproval. My comment here then is not about free speech, but rather your assertion that, "For many kids, cell phones aid in their learning..."
I assume when you use the word "kids" you are talking about K-12th grade students and not "college kids." If my assumption is correct, then as an almost 40-year veteran of teaching kids I can say with near certainty that kids carrying a handheld computer-phone, linked to the internet during the school day, has done nothing but exacerbate the struggles we have faced gaining student attention and engagement in learning. A battery-powered calculator does not "ping" or in any other way signal to a child that something not about the mathematics lesson-activity is going on and "needs" the child's immediate attention. I think the costs-benefits of social media accessible technology in classrooms clearly have been shown to be more costly to kids than beneficial. Tristan Harris and others have argued very persuasively, I think, that capturing and then exploiting attention is a primary aim of social media platforms that can operate through those handheld devices.
Free speech (albeit, crucial for our country and its citizens) aside, learning is not at all aided by the Smart/iphones, but has been undermined.