- There has emerged a divide in Education: elite tech families often send their children to holistic schools with no technology.
- Elsewhere, Education is now being gamified. Children spend the majority of their waking hours in front of screens: both at school and home.
Picture this — we’ve all been there: You’re out for dinner, soaking in the moment with your loved ones… until you spot it again: the kid at the next table, clutching a tablet like a life raft, just to make it through a plate of chips. And you thought that was bad- wait til you hear what’s happening in schools.
Kids spend an average of 7 hours a day in the classroom, and for the majority of those hours, Ed-tech is being blasted at them relentlessly. Herein lies the problem: Ed- tech is now gamifying Education. And, if the brain receives an exciting stimulus or reward for everytime it learns something simple, how an earth is it going to cope with a book? Moreover, there is a plethora of clinical research which shows how learning on a screen is far inferior.
The big tech bros in Silicone Valley meanwhile, are sending their kids to black-board only schools (more on that later). Consequently, this education divide has been rattling around in my mind for a while, and the scariest part? No one’s talking about it.
In mainstream education, the pedagogy shaping how young people ought to learn has been completely turned on its head. Therefore, this isn’t just a stylistic choice or a teacher’s preference, it’s baked into the system. Lessons now demand AI integration and digital tools at every step. In fact, teachers can’t even pass a routine learning observation without incorporating Ed-tech at every stage. Welcome to the age of mandatory, inescapable digital immersion — even in the classroom.
Lessons have to razzle and dazzle (like a mini stage show) and come loaded with QR codes for Wordwall, Padlet, Kahoot, and every other Ed-tech gimmick under the sun. Chat GPT also now has to be normalised in the classroom and students have to be taught how to use it responsibly. If someone can tell me how to ensure a lazy fifteen year old boy who hates reading and writing can be taught how to use Chat GPT more responsibly, that would be great because truth be told, I haven’t got a scooby doo!
The rationale behind the aggressive Ed-tech push, we’re told, is that it provides teachers with instant feedback to monitor learning progress in real time. I do, however, wonder if those in their ivory towers, busy crafting these “brilliant” ideas, have ever glanced at a study or thought about what this might be doing to the minds of our future generations.
The Waldorf school of the Peninsula in Silicon Valley reportedly uses traditional blackboards, colourful chalk and workbooks rather than computers in many of its classrooms. The pedagogy emphasises the role of imagination in learning and takes a holistic approach that integrates the intellectual, practical and creative development of pupils. Interestingly, many of the students are children of tech elites, such as the CTO of eBay, making the school a favourite among Silicon Valley’s tech crowd.
So what’s the solution? I mean, I’m not suggesting that Ed tech should completely be extracted from the classroom. Moreover, it’s not that young people’s fingers are being bruised from too much typing but their minds certainly are. This of course, is impacting their communication skills. And, I’m probably not allowed to say this — but I will: many of them are becoming hideously dull.
Yes, mental health issues are on the rise but schools and colleges are also contributing to the death of creativity and critical thinking. And Educational institutions are supposed to be a place of trust.
Most children being taught up and down the country are in front of a screen from the moment they wake up until the end of their school day — and this continues all evening at home, right up until they go to sleep.
Is homeschooling the answer for the majority? Or Hijrah perhaps? I’m not so sure. All I know is that Muslim parents must give their children the best Tarbiyyah they can. Some of them, after all, are raising our future leaders.
