As an adult with a generally optimistic view on technology, I had a rude awakening recently: My third grader mentioned that he and his buddies had been using Google’s Gemini on their school-provided Chromebooks to make funny pictures of poop and dinosaurs.
Technically, he admitted they’re not supposed to be using Gemini like this, but they’ve figured out they have access to the tool — and if they finish their assigned schoolwork a few minutes early, they have time to mess around on their Chromebooks.
I didn’t love the idea of them getting access to a generative AI image-making tool unsupervised — something I wouldn’t allow at home. (Even if it’s technically against school rules, it wasn’t blocked or restricted.)
I’m not the only parent worried about AI making its way into the elementary school classroom. In the last few weeks, a handful of articles about AI and Chromebooks in schools have sparked a lot of discussion among parents — and, from what I’ve observed, the tone of these conversations ranges from frustrated to horrified.
A recent New York Magazine story, “Help! My kindergarten is all in on AI,” detailed how AI programs are being used in some New York public schools. Proponents say they give a new ability to customize lessons to each kid’s needs. Some New York parents are organizing and rallying against them. At an open meeting for parents to weigh in on AI policy with the city’s Department of Education, one parent accused the chancellor of “experimenting on our children.”
While there’s been some grumbling about devices in the classroom for a few years, the introduction of AI — which many adults are wary of — has pushed the concerns further.
In The New Yorker, Jessica Winter examines how AI is being incorporated into K-12 education — especially through school-mandated programs on Chromebooks and iPads. She points out that no one seems to be asking the question: Do we actually want this?
When faced with the mantra we hear over and over — that AI is already here and we just have to get with the program — it’s important to sometimes step back and ask these simple questions: Does this actually work? Is this actually good?
There are some genuinely unpleasant details in the story, like one study that showed “one in five student interactions with generative A.I. involved cheating, self-harm, bullying, and other problematic behaviors.”
(Meanwhile, at the very top of higher education, Princeton just this week decided it will have exams monitored by proctors instead of its long-used honor system, where instructors would typically leave the room during tests. This comes in response to concerns over rampant AI cheating.)
Parents aren’t just concerned about AI in schools
It’s not just AI that’s under a microscope.
For a long time, I’ve been in parent groups on social media where people are complaining about the apps their kids have to use that purport to be teaching math or English. NBC wrote about the parental backlash to one common math program. Some parents are saying they’re going to opt their kids out of this program and other tech-enabled things at their schools.
And I’m not sure all the tech is actually helping us. It’s too early to say whether AI-enabled learning is good or bad, but computers in the classroom don’t seem to be doing us a lot of good: The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University published a new report that showed that reading and math test scores are down nationwide, sometimes a whole grade level lower than they were at the same schools in 2015.
The reasons for this decline are complex — Covid probably had an effect — but screentime (both at home and in class) is something lots of education watchers keep pointing to.
As a parent who completed middle school at a time when our access to technology was once a week in the computer lab to learn Mavis Beacon typing, I’m not quite digitally native enough to understand how all this technology in the classroom is affecting my kids. (And I’m a tech-focused reporter!)
But I’m seeing a bubbling concern among parents about the amount of screentime and technology kids are using in public schools for classwork. School-issued Chromebooks, which were heavily adopted during the pandemic and now seem here to stay, are a big target for the backlash.
I’m personally skeptical of the value of Chromebooks, iPads, and AI tools compared to pencil and paper, especially in younger grades. My personal stance is: Yes to learning what AI is and how it works; no to using it to teach math or reading.
Are you a parent or educator dealing with this in your schools? I’d love to hear from you: [email protected]
