See also Goodhart’s law “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”, which may not be completely relevant here, but is likely a factor (probably a lesser one than the systematic underfunding and other political meddling in US schools).
AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I suspect that if Gen Z designed their own cognitive tests, their tests would determine that we older generations were less cognitively capable than them.
The reality is that every generation adapts in different ways to their own cognitive circumstances.
MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 20 hours ago
natecox@programming.dev 23 hours ago
I get what you’re saying, but this isn’t a dig at Gen Z. For as long as we’ve been testing, which is like 50 years I think, the new generation has outperformed the previous one and that’s a good thing.
Having this generation underperform means that we have failed them and we need to figure out exactly how we fucked up. The evidence is really strong that technology in the classroom is a significant contributor.
Venator@lemmy.nz 23 hours ago
in the classroom specifically though? did they control for screen time outside of the classroom in the study?
Traister101@lemmy.today 20 hours ago
As a Gen z who managed to not be an idiot I’m unconvinced it’s the technology when even in my elementary school years I was beginning to realize how shit the school system is. Technology probably doesn’t make things better but it was failing me in elementary school when the best of the best was the massive brick of a computer Macs in the computer lab was all we had
natecox@programming.dev 20 hours ago
I’m not an expert on this, but I have listened to people talk who are and claim that you can pretty clearly link cognitive decline with the introduction of technology effectively everywhere.
I’m sure it’s not as clear as “tech bad” but it does seem like screen time and deferring the manual parts of learning to computers is not great for us.
eli@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Personal anecdote here, so grain of salt.
But I was born in the mid90s. My dad is a tech geek, so we had a personal computer with Windows 95 and I was playing Adiboo on it at 2-3 years old. Also had a Gameboy with Pokemon. Played CS/HL/DOD in the early 2000s. All before we were going to the computer lab at my school.
So I’ve been entrenched in computers and tech my whole life. So I don’t think screen time itself is bad, but we also did not have tech in the classroom (except for the old school throw projectors).
So it probably doesn’t help that the classroom nowadays is all tech while also the kid’s home is all tech. It’s a balancing act.
maskofdaisies@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 hours ago
It’s closer to 100 years at this point.