Brutal Numbers: Schools Spent $30 Billion on Laptops… and They Seem to Have Made Kids Dumber
The piece argues that technological innovation in education does not automatically improve learning outcomes.It traces a long history of large investments in classroom devices—from a 2002 Maine program that put Apple laptops in middle schools to about $30 billion in federal spending by 2024—and suggests that the hoped-for performance gains have not consistently followed.
Key points include: neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath’s testimony that Gen Z shows declining test scores and that more time with digital devices correlates with weaker learning, warning against indiscriminate digital expansion; studies cited such as Techspot’s finding that many university students spend considerable time on laptops for non-classroom activities; Fortune’s 2017 finding that test scores hadn’t improved; and OxJournal’s research linking digital media use to ADHD symptoms across ages, with earlier exposure increasing risk. The article contends that customary methods—pencil and paper, chalkboards—remain highly effective, and that a culture of change for its own sake can undermine learning. It concludes that educational tools should align with how human learning actually works rather than assume technology alone will improve outcomes.
Technological innovation doesn’t always yield good results.
Even as electronic devices are championed as the best means of learning for youth — with a massive price tag — we aren’t seeing dramatic improvements in students’ performance.
On Feb. 23, Techspot published an article citing the beginning of the tech takeover in the classroom under former Maine Democratic Gov. Angus King.
In 2002, King created a program to put Apple laptops in middle schoolers’ repertoire. By 2024, the federal government had used a staggering $30 billion to follow his state’s plan, getting tablets and laptops to students across the country.
This seemed like an obvious shift in the right direction on paper: The world is becoming more technological. Students will use these devices in the workplace, so why not familiarize them now?
But neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath laid out the adverse impacts of this decision to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
According to Horvath, Gen Z is the first cohort to see declining test scores compared to their predecessors. He found an inverse relationship between academic performance and time using digital devices.
“This is not a debate about rejecting technology,” he told lawmakers. “It is a question of aligning educational tools with how human learning actually works. Evidence indicates that indiscriminate digital expansion has weakened learning environments rather than strengthened them.”
Techspot cited studies showing 3,000 university students spent two-thirds of time on their school laptops engaging in material unrelated to classwork.
Fortune found that in 2017, test scores weren’t improving after King’s program.
A study published in OxJournal made a worrying conclusion regarding technology and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The research “established an evident correlation between digital media use and the prevalence of ADHD in contemporary society. This applies for all age demographics, depending on the setting, such as being in school or in a workplace.”
“The earlier we immerse our children’s underdeveloped minds in digital media, offering them instant fulfillment, the higher the likelihood that an attention-deficit disorder will emerge as they mature,” the study continued.
“This inhibits individuals from focusing their selective attention on a particular task, as well as reduces their divided and sustained attention.”
A traditionally minded educator — or most conservatives — could have seen this coming.
Laptops were introduced as cutting-edge tools to help students prepare for the future.
The traditional means of learning — call it pencil and paper, a chalkboard, or even parchment and quill — were used for so long for a reason.
These were — and in many cases still are — the most effective means of grasping classroom material.
Culturally, the norm is innovation and progress for the sake of it.
If something can change, it should.
But that change may not always be for the best.
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