Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse Is Making Our Kids Dumber

by Joe Clement

George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act. This left the United States with two major parties both believing that education was an issue for the federal government. Pity our poor local school official. I take no position on either of these acts, or even on the role of the federal government in education. However, what is clear is that these steps marked an enormous increase in pressure on schools. Failure was not going to be tolerated (which, of course, it shouldn’t be). Failing schools were brought to the consciousness of a nation anxious about how its children were going to compete with students from around the world—children who seemed to be getting smarter faster than ours. People have always been concerned about schools, and likely always will be. In the past, though, concern might have meant a PTA meeting in a school gymnasium at which the superintendent was asked tough questions by worried parents. Now, politicians on both sides of the aisle in local, state, and federal offices scream for change and call for the heads of those in charge.