We also have to get away from the Panopticon we’ve created out of schools. I speak from experience here as a person who manages and implements these systems: You can not walk a hall without being recorded, you can’t send an email without it potentially being flagged and sent to administration, you can’t browse a website without it being logged and eventually used against you.

Schools have become little state surveillance conditioning centers.

Linked to this is the total lack of critical thought when introducing technology into a students academic life. Computer labs are things of the past. More and more districts are implementing 1:1 programs, which do help with equity but create new problems. Very often there is no guidance on when it’s appropriate to use technology as part of the curriculum, and at worst an outright mandate that technology is used at all times to justify the cost.

I’ve been witness to dozens of cases of kids who are rabidly attached to their devices in an unhealthy way. Often its a symptom of an underlying neurodivergence.

No critical thought or material understating of the implications of requiring device use for K-12 students. No thoughts on if this establishes a bad pattern of device dependency. No critical thoughts on Google or Apple and or the ethics of shuffling students down a pipeline that makes it harder for them to use alternatives, incubating future consumers. No consideration of alternatives, mostly do to lack of manpower required to implement them. Not a single shop equivalent education path that teaches you how computers work, how you might service them, and so on.

I think about this story often:

https://opensource.com/education/14/9/open-source-benefits?ool

https://opensource.com/education/16/1/getting-started-in-it-through-a-student-run-help-desk

I wonder what kind of impact it had on even the tech neutral students. What kind of opinions or skills did these students pick up from being participants? What kind of culture did the kids have as a result of getting their needs met by other students? The benefits for the students involved in the helpdesk are obvious, what about the subtle benefits?

Laws like COPPA do more harm then good frankly. Once administration understands the filtering system required to comply with COPPA can also pull logs at any time, its instantly weaponized against students. Often what is filtered comes down to not just the letter of the law but also the individual biases of the staff managing the tech or the administration.

I can’t imagine what its like from the perspective of the average student and how it shapes their worldview.