The U.S. spent $30B to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets(fortune.com)

20 pointsby nothrowaways4 hours ago3 comments

exabrialan hour ago
Better written as: $30b was pumped from taxpayers to already rich guys.
Yet a massive population of HNers are pro-tax. It's mind boggling that present with consistent failures some of the most logical people in the world still choose irrational outcomes.
- seanmcdirmidan hour ago
  You can be both pro tax and anti corruption. The two concepts are not in opposition to each other. Just like Trumpers are anti tax and pro corruption, they don’t see a contradiction to that either.
kristianp43 minutes ago
I think this part of the headline is more important: "The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents".
Tablets and Laptops are such complete entertainment devices these days, I don't know how locked-down these devices are, but there's often ways to access games and videos and even phone apps. And as the article says, social media and gaming apps are made to be addictive as possible. Just look at the teenagers who walk around looking only at their phones. Its not surprising kids aren't performing as well. Now for high-schoolers, most kids get ChatGPT to write all their assignments, so there's another skill thats going to wither [1].
[1] source: partner is a high school educator.
westurner3 hours ago
> Whenever I work with teenagers I tell them, ‘This is not your fault. None of you asked to be sat in front of a computer for your entire K-12 schooling,’” Horvath said. “That means we…screwed up—and I genuinely hope Gen Z quickly figures that out and gets mad.”
> [...]
> While teachers may be intending for these tools to be strictly educational, students often have different ideas. According to a 2014 study, which surveyed and observed 3,000 university students, students engaged in off-task activities on their computers nearly two-thirds of the time.
Oh wow! Maybe try this instead:
If you f around on your computer, tablet, and phone when you need to be paying attention, you will not win at school or in industry.
You are responsible for maintaining focus.
It is not their responsibility to be more entertaining than your other apps.
It is your responsibility to focus.
Do not blame technology for your unwillingness or inability to focus.
Do not blame temptation. Accept responsibility for your behavior.
When you're paying by the credit hour, paying a professor to talk at you while you allow yourself to be distracted with your device is a waste of time and money.