By Sid Chadwick
Our Legacy News organizations, in my opinion – protected the Teachers Union.
They also protected our great industry’s associations….by telling only half the story.
Neither group, nor the reporting news media – wanted the real background story (check-out the link below) to be brought forward, and part of the narrative – last Tuesday.
A month or so ago, I reported that the Los Angeles School Board “recommended” limiting hours for young students to receive instruction and reading assignments from digital devices. (Our industry’s associations were silent. The real educational background evidence, from decades of testing – was overwhelming.)
Last Tuesday, the second largest public school district in the U.S., and the Los Angeles Board of Education, approved a resolution limiting student classroom screen time (Los Angeles Times).
This was a major national inflexion point, and every public education system in the U.S. – noticed.
“A child sitting in front of a screen for hours is not getting better education simply because the content is online,” said Nick Melvoin, original author of the resolution.
“Under the board motion, students will be kept away entirely from screens until the second grade and after that, screen time will be tracked and limited….The resolution also directs administrators to guide teachers toward more ‘paper and pen assignments’.” (Don’t you know, this was a “cat-fight.”)
The resolution passed, 6 to 0, with the chairman abstaining, due to his technology investments.
USA Today reported that “the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory earlier this year offered guidance for schools: Limit screen use, including by assigning work in books or on paper whenever possible, investing in physical textbooks and hands-on activities…..One study of 152 children, as cited in the advisory, found that ‘excessive screen time in early years was associated with poor cognitive and social-emotional development…In a study using data from children aged 12 – 17, researchers found that teenagers with higher, non-school screen use were more likely to experience ‘adverse health outcomes’ such as infrequent physical activity, being infrequently well-rested, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and more…”
I direct you to the link at the end of this article, where we cite multiple studies – going back decades – that support “printed document reading” – for improved cognition, learning, and recall.
This is not new information.
By their inactions, it appears our associations would like these research studies, citing the many superior performance qualities of print over digital, would just go away….!
Why…?.............. Digital sells new equipment.
However…..Print fairly consistently outperforms digital – in many if not most learning and business performance environments.
Universities pursuing government digital research grants need to call time out and take a second look at the foundation they are attempting to build. DOGE vigilantes can’t miss this event for freeing up research money that should not be spent, or at least questioned.
Recent studies show a growing number of major corporations are returning to Print – as a proven – better ROI….!
Many of your customers – should learn this…want to know this…!
And….don’t wait for a front-page headline… from your associations….!
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