Smart Phones Raising A Mentally Fragile Generation

[sid]

This is not surprising to me. The article is a very interesting read and I recommend it.

https://www.france24.com/en/20181113-smartphones-raising-mentally-fragile-generation

[RED]

Interesting, maybe? But it s bull sheet! Smart phones didn't exist until 1995. Those born in 1995 never had a "smart phone" until at least 2005. The real culprit was the "No Child Left Behind," program that the really nice guy (and war hero, GHW Bush) concocted. No more social studies, no more history, and no more political science taught in the schools and so now we have a bunch of folks that have been taught that Socialism (that has never worked, ever) is great and Capitalism (that always succeeds) is racist, bigoted, and criminal.

"Guns and Butter," they never heard of that, nor have they ever heard of "laissez-faire."

The Democrats copy the Muslim method. Their children only have one textbook, and that is the Quran. American children now have only one textbook .... The Communist Manifesto that has about as many interpretations as the Bible.

[JB White]

Laissez-faire. Is that short slang for lazy fairy?

The article has some points but much too limited in scope. I've always felt 'video game addiction' blazed the trail for smart phone dependency. Hence kids born earlier than 1995 were conditioned in their formative years and smart phones were simply the next step to that addiction.
Rationing time and access compounded with dumb phones would only create negative peer pressure, hostility to authority, and quite likely the "bullying" of those who are being forced to comply. Try telling a teen to let go of a phone. See what that gets you. Remember you are dealing with someone who follows anyone on social media who has high "bulls*itting points".

[RED]

You are right about games contributing to the problem but I don’t think very many people are aware of the effect “No Child Left Behind,” had on our schools. The program tested to see if the kids were ALL able to read and write and when schools couldn’t reach their goal they faced losing Federal funds. That forced schools to drop history, literature, and social studies from the carriculum to spend more time teaching the NCLB stuff.

[JB White]

The money scheme goes deeper than simply dropping classes.

They also dropped students who weren't making the grade. I know of one kid who was encouraged to quit as soon as he reached 16 years old...by his guidance counselor. He wasn't stupid. Just having a hard time. At the same time other kids were promoted who were (for all practical purposes) dumb as a box of rocks. Neighbors son admits his teacher did the Constitution test for them so he and others could graduate.
Someone I knew in the past was fired as a principal because she altered test scores. That included altering entry scores. Disqualifying kids who may have a lack of potential and rearranging scores of the better kids to fill the blanks. Showed supposedly low score kids "improved" when actually left to their own devices. The money kept rolling in for doing such a great job.
Lately they have been trialing intrinsic schools in my area. Kids promote at their own rate of learning instead of being shuffled along with the herd. Techno classes along with touchy-feely, camping out on bean bag classes from what I've been able to tell. Does it work? Will it work? I can't tell. I'm sure we'll know in a while when they tally the number of 27 year old ninth graders, eh?

[lyman]

the tests and lack of integrity has bit many a teacher in the backside,

happened just south of me a while back,
teacher was giving the kids the answers, instead of teaching them to think and remember,