TJ Walker argues schools bought iPads and Chromebooks before teaching students to think critically, turning devices into distraction machines. He points to a Kansas school that ditched Chromebooks for handwritten notes, and proposes every student give a three-minute weekly oral explanation of a concept to build reasoning skills first, then add technology.
Ultimize. The biggest education mistake of the last decade wasn't giving kids too much technology, it was giving them technology before teaching them how to think. According to a New York Times report, in today's time, schools across the United States are now pulling back on laptops and classroom technology after years of heavy investment failed to improve academic performance. One middle school in Kansas actually took back school Chromebooks entirely shifting back to handwritten notes and limited intentional use of technology after teachers found students were distracted by YouTube, video games, and even using school tools to bully classmates. Now let me translate this into plain English. Schools spent tens of billions of dollars on devices and got kids watching YouTube in math class. That's not innovation. That's a very expensive babysitting system. Here's the real problem. And nobody wants to say this out loud. Technology didn't fail schools. Schools failed at teaching thinking. You can hand a kid a $300 Chromebook, but if they don't know how to focus, analyze, question, and explain, you've just given a distracted mind a faster distraction machine. That's like giving a Ferrari to someone who doesn't know how to drive and then acting shocked when they crash into TikTok. Now, let me be clear, because I'm not some back in my day we used chalk and suffered kind of guy. We absolutely need— and we did use chalk— we absolutely need technology in schools. Kids need to know how to use artificial intelligence, to research online, to code, to communicate digitally. But here's the order we've completely screwed up: first teach thinking, then add technology, not the other way around. Right now most schools are doing the opposite. They're saying, here's a laptop, Here's Google, here's multiple choice, and then wondering why kids can't write clearly, speak confidently, defend an idea, or even pay attention for 10 minutes. Let me give you the simplest fix in the world, and it costs $0. Every child in every class should be required to stand up and speak for 3 minutes. Maybe not every day, but once a week they could explain the concept, teach it back to other kids in the class, and defend it. Because here's the truth nobody wants to admit. If you can't explain something out loud, you don't understand it. This is the real scandal in modern education. We've created an entire system where students can pass tests without ever proving they can think. Click, guess, submit. Congratulations, you've mastered the art of recognizing the right answer when you see it. That's not intelligence. That's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire without the lifelines. And don't tell me this is about technology. This is about comfort. Schools have decided no one should feel uncomfortable. No one should be put on the spot. No one should risk being wrong in public. Little Timmy might feel uncomfortable having to stand up and speak or do show and tell. This is complete and total nonsense because the real world is nothing but discomfort. Job interviews, speaking. Meetings, speaking. Selling an idea, speaking. Leading people, speaking. We are graduating students who can swipe but can't speak. Speak or think. Now, to be fair to teachers, this isn't all on them. They were sold a fantasy. Big tech came in and said, this will democratize education, this will increase engagement, this will improve outcomes, and schools bought it. Why? Because it sounded modern, it sounded progressive, it sounded easy. And here's the dirty little secret: technology often makes classroom management easier while making learning worse. Because when every kid is quietly staring at a screen, It looks like learning, but it's often just distraction, passivity, or low-level engagement. The schools now pulling back are discovering something shocking. When you take away the screens, kids talk more, focus more, interact more, and yes, even learn more. What a concept. Now here's where I agree with you 100%. Schools need environments with 100% attention. I hope you agree with me on this. No phones, no distractions, no "I'm checking something." You want real learning? Create a space where attention is mandatory, thinking is visible, and participation is required. And yes, use technology, but use it intentionally, not as a babysitter, not as a substitute for teaching, not as a replacement for thinking. Here's the bottom line: a Chromebook can help a kid code. It cannot teach a kid courage. Focus, or how to stand up and explain and defend an idea without hiding. That's the job of education. And right now, that's the part we've been skipping. Now, I wish someone— and perhaps it's already out there— we need some technology that doesn't simply block YouTube and TikTok from computers in schools. We need something where at certain times of the day, maybe the beginning of every period, it's impossible to access the internet at all for anyone other than a teacher. I think that would be a good first step, but we got to get away from this binary thinking of we're either all technology or we're all back to finger painting on caves. There has to be a mix of the two. Ultimize.
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