For subscribers
Better for school kids to spend more time with books and pens than laptops
The soaring promise of technology in the classroom has failed to deliver results while imposing great costs, says the founder of Bloomberg’s financial computer system.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Studies have found that time-tested methods of learning – such as reading and writing on a page – are superior to screen-based approaches.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Michael R. Bloomberg
Over the past two decades, school districts have spent billions of US taxpayer dollars equipping classrooms with laptops and other devices in hopes of preparing children for a digital future. The result? Students have fallen further behind on the skills they most need to succeed in careers: the three R’s plus a fourth – relationships.
Today, about 90 per cent of schools provide laptops or tablets to their students. Yet as students spend more time than ever on screens, social skills are deteriorating and test scores are near historic lows.
