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Matthew and Val discuss phones, smartwatches, and school-issued devices in classrooms — and why schools may need stronger tech boundaries to protect focus, learning, and real social time.
Two Factor Parenting is a conversation between two parents navigating technology's role in raising kids. He's the early adopter and tech optimist. She's the skeptic who asks "but should we?" Together they tackle screen time, AI, social media, and all the parenting decisions that don't come with a manual.
Two parents. Two perspectives. Raising kids in the age of screens, AI, and chaos.
April 25, 2026
00:00:13 Val: Hi, everybody. Welcome back. This is episode five. But we have a special surprise because it's actually a two part episode. So episode five and six and the topic is AI in schools. So part one is going to be more focused on education, tech or edtech and focusing more on the physical devices like school issued computers and laptops, things like that. Part two is going to be focused on AI in schools and we are actually going to have a special guest for part two. Our friend from college, Christina Andrade Melly She is an educator in Missouri. She's a high school classroom teacher, and she actually was Missouri's teacher of the year.
00:01:12 Matt: Mhm.
00:01:12 Val: So we are so excited to talk to her again. She's an old friend and we will be doing that second part on our next episode.
00:01:23 Matt: Yeah. So we're going to follow the same format that we had last time. because We had a lot of fun last time. We hope you did too. Um, so as we kind of go through this, that's how we're going to build it out here.
00:01:34 Val: So I actually thought that we were going to find the same sources.
00:01:38 Matt: Well, I mean, let's find out. Right. And that'll be kind of the, the funny thing is, is did we find the same sources. Yeah. Um, so that's going to be part of where we're going. I think the thing that it's going to be interesting here is, how do we connect on these things? But then what do we agree on and disagree on? Because I was kind of going back and forth and even some of the things I was reading, I was kind of like, oh, okay, well, maybe this is okay. Well, then I'm reading more into it. And I was like, yeah, nothing is okay.
00:02:10 Val: Think that you will think my thoughts on this are so surprising. Does that make sense? Like especially.
00:02:17 Matt: See.
00:02:18 Val: Especially based on last week where I was like, no robots, no A I yeah, anyway, okay, So I was going through all of my stuff being like, he is, he is not even going to believe this.
00:02:30 Matt: Okay.
00:02:30 Val: Um.
00:02:31 Matt: All right. How do you would you.
00:02:33 Val: Yeah. I guess having said that.
00:02:35 Matt: Okay, let's, let's go through a couple of things. Um, So again, devices in the school kind of that's where we're starting, right? so where we're based, we're in North Carolina and North Carolina has done some recent things, where they are adopting some policies of just outright bans on phones. Now, the interesting thing that I found was the enforcement of those policies is uneven. So what they're finding is that, you know, some districts have some problems with that and well.
00:03:08 Val: Actually can.
00:03:09 Matt: I are doing. Yeah, yeah.
00:03:10 Val: Can I read you a list because Edweek has a really nice breakdown state by state.
00:03:16 Matt: Yeah, I saw that. I saw that one too.
00:03:18 Val: And there are certain states that have an outright cell phone ban from morning bell to afternoon bell. Mhm. Yours is in a really nice little infographic. Mine's a chart.
00:03:33 Matt: I like pretty pictures.
00:03:35 Val: Um, so from morning bell to afternoon bell ban. And there are twenty eight states that have a cell phone ban. Um, there are eight states that ban cell phones during instructional time. So that would exclude things like lunch and hallway time.
00:03:53 Matt: Yep, yep.
00:03:54 Val: Um two states it says not specified. And those states are Minnesota and West Virginia. And then there are thirteen states where it says policy not required. Now there's an asterisk with that. And it says that means that the states have decided that it's more up to the individual school districts on enforcement.
00:04:20 Matt: Interesting. Okay. Yes.
00:04:22 Val: So North Carolina is one that is banned during instructional time.
00:04:27 Matt: Yep. That's what I saw.
00:04:29 Val: so it seems like most states have at least some type of policy regarding cell phone use in schools. Yeah. And I kind of wanted to add some context to this because a lot of people listening are our friends and family and have similar aged kids that we do. but if you are listening and you have older kids, you might have more direct experience with this. Yeah. A lot of this stuff we don't have direct experience with yet.
00:05:03 Matt: Although I feel like there's hints.
00:05:04 Val: Yes.
00:05:05 Matt: There's definitely. Especially outside of school.
00:05:07 Val: Yes.
00:05:08 Matt: Where, like the kids come home and they're like, blah, blah, blah has a phone. And I'm like, that's crazy, but okay. Yeah.
00:05:16 Val: I'm thinking and I'm thinking more of like the integrated edtech in the classroom aspect of it. Like our kids don't do their assignments. I can't look up their grades on canvas. You know what I mean? Like, we're not quite in that phase yet, but we're going to be pretty soon. Right. So we're not really speaking about this from like direct first hand knowledge. But more anecdotally from other parents or looking up research.
00:05:47 Matt: Right. And hence why this interview. is going to be so interesting. Mhm. and be able to kind of actually hear it directly from a practitioner. Right. from the high school level, which seems to be such like the direct impact, um, or at least kind of like the downstream effect of it because you got to, take some assumption that this starts to get formulated in that middle school area, almost like before we even start touching high school.
00:06:14 Val: Yeah. And a lot of, the things that I was looking at said that the edtech was very age based. Mhm. And it was easier to navigate based on the age of your kids in terms of how much was being integrated in the classroom.
00:06:30 Matt: So did you find like the immediate, bad guy is phones like automatic, they are they they got to go. And now what about smart watches?
00:06:42 Val: I didn't even look at smart watches.
00:06:44 Matt: Oh, I had so much. There is so much in the smart watch area. even some areas kind of talking about like phone light. Yeah. And also I felt like that was important because for folks to hear and know one of our kids has a watch now, but it's the, um, it's the Fitbit one, So there's, there's not a lot on there, honestly, but that's kind of by design.
00:07:07 Val: And we also had to set a lot of ground rules.
00:07:10 Matt: Yes.
00:07:11 Val: And a lot of boundaries.
00:07:12 Matt: Totally.
00:07:13 Val: And so the conversation around that was, you have proven to us that you have been responsible coming home when you're supposed to come home, being where you're supposed to be. So now you get to use this device to call and ask us for ten more minutes to play with your friends, you know, or send us a message or whatever. But it was you don't put it on at school. You don't need to. There's adults there. You don't put it on when you're going to grandma's house. you don't need to. There's adults there. Right. We had to set up a bunch of ground rules. No games. And even that.
00:07:54 Matt: Was a problem.
00:07:54 Val: The kid was like, hey, mom, look at this. I was like, that looks like a game to me. He was like, no, it's a quest. I was like, that's a game. Like.
00:08:04 Matt: What are you talking about? Those are what my side adventures are called. Yeah, but, you know, I mean, I think I mean, it comes in the watches, so you can't really. Yeah. You know, they're kind of like, they're like, thank God there's no like, hey, kid, how about this ad? You know? Thankfully, we're not not in that terrible space.
00:08:22 Val: Not yet.
00:08:22 Matt: Yeah, I know so.
00:08:24 Val: Oh, that's so funny. I didn't even look at watches.
00:08:26 Matt: Yeah. So so the band.
00:08:28 Val: So tell me all about it.
00:08:29 Matt: Well, so this is the uneven part because what they found is, in some of these restrictions. there's so much focus on the cell phones, but then this uneven enforcement. So this Carolina Journal piece actually was talking about this, that only, sixty percent of the students are, following them. There's another one here that was talking about Just how they're enforcing no devices. They kind of just leave that statement. Mhm. So then they're like, okay, do we do watches? Do we not do watches? And my mindset is depending on the device, right? Because if it's a phone light, I totally agree. Like you can text, people, you can do whatever you want on some of these So you do have that flexibility. I think if there is at least enough control in there where you can kind of say, hey, I'm going to turn this off essentially, or you can't do certain functions, from eight a m to four p m.
00:09:27 Val: You know what though?
00:09:28 Matt: Mhm.
00:09:29 Val: I actually don't think it's as bad as a phone. And I would be okay doing the smartwatches because yeah, you Pikachu face.
00:09:35 Matt: I'm just kidding.
00:09:37 Val: Well, and that's why I said I think my opinions on this are going to surprise you because I think about the ways in which teens have been impacted by phones, and it's usually through pictures and video pictures of them and video of them.
00:09:56 Matt: So you're thinking about from that, that that angle of, you know.
00:10:00 Val: You can't.
00:10:00 Matt: Take a social media aspect.
00:10:02 Val: You can't get on social media, you can't take a picture, you can't take a video. And so really, you can only call and text, which is basically the only thing that we could do with our phones as teenagers.
00:10:13 Matt: Back in my day.
00:10:14 Val: Well, no.
00:10:15 Matt: I know, I know what you mean.
00:10:16 Val: And so I, I don't think a smartwatch is as bad as a phone, mainly because those things that really greatly impact teenagers are mostly social media and the internet. I can you get on social media on a smartwatch? I doubt it. Like I'm sure some kid has figured it out.
00:10:37 Matt: But yeah, no I know right?
00:10:39 Val: Probably not very effectively.
00:10:41 Matt: In case it was a t I eighty nine. That's what I'm.
00:10:44 Val: Saying. Like, I'm sure some kid has figured it out, but it's not great.
00:10:48 Matt: so I, my view here is from a, from a school perspective, right? the emphasis is allowing again, it's coming back to this just being human. And so much of this content at an accelerated rate and the amount of content at this accelerated rate, it is difficult for our our brains, our hardware at the end of the day to consume it. So for me, it's that that's where I get a little hesitant about even the watch.
00:11:25 Val: Like you think it's too distracting in school.
00:11:26 Matt: I just feel like it it opens the door for These little distractions that frankly, with the mind and how it's developing. It's like just this one ounce of, peace. Can we at least do that? Can we at least give them that?
00:11:43 Val: Now, something important to know on this Edweek list or chart, it does say that in all of these instances, there are exceptions made for students with medical disabilities and, IEPs. Mhm. In case of an emergency. And yeah, um, an IEP is an individualized education plan And so if you have a a special need for a phone, if you have a disability and you need that phone for your accessibility use, you are allowed to have a phone during your instructional time. Um, so all of these cases make exceptions for that.
00:12:26 Matt: Okay. Okay.
00:12:28 Val: Well, it's interesting you talk about distraction because that is also what I was finding is that as they started banning phones, kids were using like school computers and school laptops.
00:12:39 Matt: See, that's the part where this got really interesting.
00:12:42 Val: Yeah.
00:12:43 Matt: Well, because it's a institutionalized, um, accepted device. Mhm. And that was for me. What I found the most interesting thing was the Chromebooks and everything like that, which is just as bad as the actual phone themselves. So you get to, you get in this realm and you're like, hey, cool, we're doing all this education now that we can provide that we couldn't do before, but we're doing it through this device. And then you're getting all the the clever kids getting around it. or it's not properly secured or it's not, protected in the right way for whatever reason, because the school doesn't have enough resources to do that, you know, at a lower cost. So like there's this education week one from last year. Um, why one teacher told students to put their, their Chromebooks away for good. so you get this interesting thing where it's like we got rid of the phones and now we're not questioning all of these devices that we had that were like, yes, we're making change. You know, we're like, oh, never mind. Yeah, yeah. I like this, the other one. Education week, of course is bringing bringing the heat on the references for this week. You know, this one at Chromebooks or cell phones, which are the bigger classroom distraction.
00:14:07 Val: Mhm. So we just like usual, we'll put links to these articles that we're referencing.
00:14:14 Matt: Mhm.
00:14:15 Val: so that you can look at them further if you'd like. What I was looking into is that there's a growing trend of getting Chromebooks out of schools. Yeah. I started looking into the topic of Chromebooks in schools through a local Facebook group of parents asking about being able to opt in or opt out of the technology in school. And this person was like, what does that even look like? I didn't know I could do that. I really like the idea of being able to opt in or opt out of technology, And I think that it is a really nice idea to be able to opt in or opt out. But what I found from all these other people's input was that realistically, you're not actually opting out of the Chromebook. What you're opting out of is using the school's Chromebook because.
00:15:16 Matt: Yeah, it's kind of weird.
00:15:17 Val: Yeah. Because what happens is that you are then asked to provide your own device.
00:15:24 Matt: Oh, what's the point of that?
00:15:27 Speaker 3: Exactly?
00:15:29 Val: I was like, wow, that's a bait and switch. And a lot of parents were saying this. And so then they were.
00:15:36 Matt: That's hilarious. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay.
00:15:39 Val: And and again, it was very age dependent too, because parents with young elementary school kids opted out and their child just read or colored when the kids were doing their computer lessons. Well, that's very easy for a teacher to do.
00:15:59 Matt: Yeah.
00:16:00 Val: But they were saying that my middle schooler literally could not do assignments in class and had nothing to do, and then had to either bring in our own device. Well, we don't have one just for them. So then they had to go home and do it on like the home computer, And so I was reading through all of these and there were again, this is all very anecdotal. Like I said, our kids are not quite there yet. But, you know, people were saying like when the school laptop broke through, no fault of the child. There were no alternative lesson plans. There was no sense of, oh, what, what do we do? What's the plan for when a kid doesn't have a laptop?
00:16:45 Matt: Mhm.
00:16:46 Val: And to me, it seems like edtech is so ingrained in our public school systems that getting it out is going to be much harder.
00:16:59 Matt: Yeah.
00:17:00 Val: Not only hard for the kids, but especially hard for the teachers.
00:17:04 Matt: Oh, yeah. Well, now it sounds like it's, it's, it's full blown, you know, within, just within the system so much that it is very difficult to then rip it out.
00:17:17 Val: Yeah. And, and even more kind of evidence to that fact is I looked into canvas, Which is the main educational platform. Have you looked into this at all?
00:17:30 Matt: I didn't look into that one that much.
00:17:32 Val: So canvas basically replaced blackboard. Do you remember blackboard?
00:17:37 Matt: Oh, we all do. Yes.
00:17:39 Val: So if you went to school in the two thousand, you you used blackboard for your discussion forums and posts. Um and that got replaced and other they're called LMS learning management systems. Um, got replaced by a company called canvas and they created this learning management system So canvas is actually the platform the company is Instructure
00:18:09 Matt: Mhm.
00:18:10 Val: Um there are ed tech company in the US. but their main product is canvas and it is actually a big deal because it was an open cloud based system, whereas the other ones were.
00:18:27 Matt: Like closed source.
00:18:28 Val: So yeah, they were like closed eco ecosystems or whatever.
00:18:32 Matt: Okay. So what we're kind of talking about here is you have canvas, which is more open source.
00:18:39 Val: Yes.
00:18:39 Matt: And then these previous systems were now closed source. Yes. And so the difference there just for kind of people following along at home. Um, they, and we were kind of actually touching on this, uh, in an earlier episode when we actually were talking about open call. So the software is pretty much freely out there. Um, so what's happening is there's some extra challenges that come with that. The fact of the vulnerabilities can be difficult to keep up with. And frankly, that's only exacerbated by now this availability of these additional tools that we have, um, things like cloud code and Codex, which are platforms that allow you to code at an accelerated rate.
00:19:27 Val: Well, they started canvas in two thousand and eight.
00:19:30 Matt: Yeah. So got some history.
00:19:33 Val: Yes. And it was like the first learning management system that was scalable. And so what they did, like you said, they're open source. Basically, they found a way to integrate other tools into their system. And so you don't just have to use canvas.
00:19:50 Matt: Okay.
00:19:51 Val: Like teachers and educators and like universities can use other tools with the system. It's not just blackboard. And so then what they did as a company, they don't just have canvas, which is like where you upload your assignments. Then they then they also do they buy it. Let's see, I had to look up on ChatGPT and get a summary of the company because their website is very tech vague So I had to ask ChatGPT to get a summary of this for me, which is just hilarious. Um, so.
00:20:30 Matt: This is bad.
00:20:31 Val: So they have canvas, um, which is like for your courses and assignments and your grading communication and analytics on that. But then they added mastery, which is an assessment platform. So now not only are you doing your grades and your assignments, then you're also taking tests with this management system, right?
00:20:56 Matt: Mhm.
00:20:57 Val: Originally Mastery Connect acquired in twenty nineteen.
00:21:01 Matt: Okay.
00:21:02 Val: It helps teachers track student progress and standards mastery. Then they got parchment, which is credentialing and records.
00:21:13 Matt: Yep.
00:21:14 Val: And that was acquired in twenty twenty four. It manages transcript diplomas and digital credentials. Okay. And it connects learners to colleges and employers and employers. So now you have a system where starting what in like middle school, when you're like a pre-teen, you are entering your grades, entering in your assignments, collecting all this data, taking all of your tests. Then it builds to. Yeah. So then it builds to you've taken all your tests, then it builds to, oh, here's all of your diplomas and like literal, like degrees and,
00:21:49 Matt: Yeah.
00:21:50 Val: So, so a system that integrated into schools and education.
00:21:58 Matt: Mhm.
00:21:59 Val: My question is how, how do you function outside of that system? Or how do you work out if you're not in that system? Or how do you get rid of a system that is so integrated like that?
00:22:14 Matt: Well, yeah, I mean, I think the thing that's kind of interesting about that, right, is, you know, you start to get other concerns. And I think that's why you do see a little bit more of this other homeschool movement more, especially in the last, you know, decade and a half Um, now, the thing that we kind of look at, you know, is this system going to be integrated? I think this is unfortunately going to kind of come with the territory a little bit especially with the technology and the advancement there, we're able to do things at a faster pace, faster rate right? You see the same kind of some behaviors, even from a company perspective, So with a system like that, for me, that seems like a natural progression of these things. what can also equally happen is yep, I consolidate all of this work and now I can, you know, raise the price and all, you can just kind of keep adding into it. and then a competitor comes around and then starts to break that up. I think that's, we're just going to see this natural ebb and flow of a lot of these systems like that.
00:23:23 Val: Um, even though they're open source.
00:23:24 Matt: Even though they're open source. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Because that, that's actually been a trend from a software perspective. actually, Red hat is, was very much built on that kind of idea of open source. because there's an accessibility piece of it too, which is actually a good thing to allow people to understand and use, and to say like, can we use this piece? And that's, that's actually, I think a lot of the beauty of open source is we're all sharing what we learn together Um, so let's kind of come back to though to the devices because I know, you know, a canvas is going to be there. These things And then honestly, frankly, tomorrow canvas could be gone, right? I mean, the thing that that's really interesting is when you think about companies like, um, some of the, um, like exam and like, uh, Chegg I think is one, I can't remember the name of it. I think that's it. Um, pretty much with the release of ChatGPT, these companies are no longer there. They're gone. They completely disappeared because of this whole generative AI piece of it. So for me, I, I think it's a really interesting realm right now when it comes to software That someone just creates and then these companies kind of ebb and flow. But coming back to the reality of, bringing the kids into these distraction environments, like how do we, do we do we ban Chromebooks as well? Or do we should we have it like in the cart kind of thing, you know, where you're like, oh, we're going to check it out right now. And then they go away
00:25:01 Val: So, um, there's a really interesting video. It's only about five minutes long, not even. and I will definitely link it because it's really interesting. It's doctor Jared Cooney Horvath. He was a previous teacher. Now he's a neuro psychiatrist I think. Um, and it's a video of him testifying before the Senate committee of oh shoot, where did it go? You know what's funny? This video is referenced in another article that I found and I coincidentally found both of them separately.
00:25:35 Matt: Oh that's.
00:25:35 Val: Nice. I was like, wait a minute. That that's that's random. Um, he is testifying before a Senate committee about this topic about edtech.
00:25:47 Matt: Yeah.
00:25:47 Val: And how it is impacting Gen Z this generation cognitively. and studies are showing a correlation that Gen Z is the first generation to underperform in cognitive development than previous generations. And he kind of says why is that? You know, it's not education. schooling has looked the same for decades, and they spend more time in school than they did previously. And it's not biology. like our biology is the same. and he was like, it's, it's the tech and, his statistics on this are crazy that states that have implemented one to one ratios of laptops to student in their school districts. None of them have seen higher test scores. None of them have been better performing. And that's actually backed up by a fortune article.
00:26:42 Matt: I read the same year.
00:26:43 Val: Ah, okay. So we did have the same.
00:26:47 Matt: We ran into a couple.
00:26:48 Val: Yeah, yeah. That fortune article says that Maine was one of the first states to adopt tech in their classrooms in two thousand and two, and in twenty seventeen, after fifteen years, they had not performed any better than they previously had done.
00:27:04 Matt: Wild I think when you think about it too, because you would hope that there was this, influx, this new availability of information.
00:27:13 Val: Not only that, the same video, eighty countries, the same data from eighty countries. As soon as that country widely adopted digital tech in the classroom, their scores went down. We're less than students who had very little tech or no tech at all.
00:27:32 Matt: So this kind of gets back to my point of why even the watch. I have trouble with this because I don't fully one hundred percent agree to say like education hasn't changed. I was like, education has totally changed. Um, I mean, I would argue the caliber, the funding impacts all of these things regardless, show there is some element of difference. I do agree, though, that From a biology standpoint, we're we're still human beings. We're still Homo sapiens. And at the end of the day, we can't consume stuff as much as we want to,
00:28:11 Val: Um, it was really interesting because at the end of his video, he talks about how education is now starting to redefine itself to fit and better suit the tool of computers.
00:28:26 Matt: Uh.
00:28:27 Val: And I think this aligns with this argument that I don't know if you either, if you have seen this anecdotally online or I don't know if any news outlets have talked about this at all, But this idea that Gen Z just doesn't know how to read
00:28:45 Matt: Oh yeah. And I've seen that argument very anecdotally. I've seen it on all these like weird, like they're like.
00:28:52 Val: But very anecdotally, you know, TikTok person doesn't know how to read however, he touches on that by saying that instead of looking at our use of computers and saying, you know what, this is not helping our students learn. What is starting to happen is that we are changing our definition of what learning means. And he uses the SATs as an example, and recent SATs. And he says, well, you used to have to read a whole paragraph and answer what, ten questions about inferring what was in that paragraph. And he's like the SATs. It was one sentence with seventy five words. And you answered one fact based question about it.
00:29:36 Matt: What?
00:29:37 Val: Boom!
00:29:38 Matt: Man.
00:29:38 Val: You would.
00:29:38 Matt: Read. I would crush the S.A.T.. Exactly.
00:29:41 Val: Well.
00:29:42 Matt: Going to Harvard, baby. And that's.
00:29:45 Val: And that's his point. He's like, that's not reading. Answer one fact based question about one sentence. He's like, that's skimming, which is what students do online all the time. But what we have done as an educational system is we are changing our expectations of learning to fit or to better suit this tool, this computer, this laptop, these phones. Yeah. Instead of flipping it the other way and I actually think that is a more systemic issue, not only going back to Covid, but going back to No Child Left Behind, where administrators were really just pressured to graduate kids.
00:30:28 Matt: Mhm.
00:30:28 Val: And, you know, the kids are the test scores. You've got to get your test scores up. You lose your funding if you don't get the kids graduated. And so you lower the bar. You change the rules of what it means for them to succeed. And then I feel like Covid just completely exacerbated that
00:30:47 Matt: That was gasoline. You can't.
00:30:50 Val: Yeah.
00:30:50 Matt: Gasoline on a fire because. And so that was beyond anything. And I think and that, like one of the questions I was playing around with is how, How do kids learn boredom tolerance attention social confidence. If they owe.
00:31:08 Val: A.
00:31:08 Matt: Lot. I know, I know, but but.
00:31:10 Val: Wait, your question is not over, okay?
00:31:11 Matt: It's not over, but because it's because if they always have this, like escape hatch of a device of a thing, anything. Mhm. Like, again, I just, I don't, I truly believe the brain just cannot handle it. And it's almost to allow a calmness.
00:31:30 Val: Solution then.
00:31:32 Matt: Panic. No, I, I think the solution is,
00:31:37 Speaker 5: I don't think you want to say it as a parent. What would your solution be then?
00:31:42 Matt: What, what would be my solution? Um, ban all, all devices. Oh, no. Um, I mean, I think so this is the hard part about it too, is because Like there's a point where you have to slowly allow your brain to catch up and by just introducing it immediately at such an early stage, I think is difficult, right? It's hard. Um, and so you don't, you don't, you don't allow life to go through its normal paces.
00:32:18 Val: Do you think when we as adults get affected by that as well?
00:32:21 Matt: Absolutely. Absolutely. That I think it's you know, that's why you have all these like retreats where people like, you know, leave all of their devices behind and everything like that so they can get a break.
00:32:34 Val: So this leads to one of my bigger questions. I kind of I did all my research. I loved learning more, but I had a couple big questions. One of mine was, is there such a thing as beneficial educational screen time?
00:32:47 Matt: Oh God. Great question. Um, so, so this is the part that for me gets really challenging and why things like AI and like these large language models can be so wonderfully beautiful for kids and for people really is you can build them in a way that are adaptive, right? So it's down a direction of how do you help the teacher be the greatest teacher in the world, right? So they can then work with the child, with the kid growing up. and helping them to have this curated education. I think, I think we have to almost like come back to this like human augmentation Because without that, you break this, this connection and that connection is what really is binding us together. really it needs to be, how do we help? How do we actually help the teacher? Honestly, how do you help these systems be the best they can be and helping these people do more of that work that they don't always have that time to do. I mean, so there's, there's a resource element in here.
00:34:08 Val: That that's where I was thinking, because one of my other questions was how much work are we expecting teachers to do?
00:34:14 Matt: Yeah.
00:34:15 Val: if a lot of their not only assignments, but curriculum are online and there's an expectation that the class is online or at least able to access a computer, and then you have a few kids who don't know. How much work are we expecting teachers to do on top of what they're already expected to do? Now, again, the context is public schools here.
00:34:41 Matt: I know. Yeah.
00:34:42 Val: And public schools have a responsibility to educate every single child.
00:34:48 Matt: Yeah. Without question. Yeah.
00:34:49 Val: Um, so with the IEPs, with the behavior management issues, like are we putting too much more work on teachers on top of what they're already being.
00:35:00 Matt: Asked to do? I mean, we are.
00:35:01 Val: And then how do we help them? We're already in like massive teacher shortages. How do we even how do we even help?
00:35:09 Matt: Mhm.
00:35:11 Val: Or what kind of expectations should we have as parents?
00:35:16 Matt: Yeah. I mean, I think the expectation there is we've put so much strain into the system and we continue to do it. And then so this, this whole homeschool piece is such an interesting situation because that truly is a privilege to do that, I know we've been kind of tiptoeing on that.
00:35:35 Speaker 5: We have been dancing.
00:35:36 Val: Around this question. I could not dance around it anymore.
00:35:40 Matt: but this one though, is it gets into just another realm of, um, that space. But I would argue that does that relieve some pressure from the system? You know, does that help? Okay.
00:35:52 Val: Well, I encountered it multiple times while I was looking up. Stuff So I have it as one of my big questions. Is it more of a privilege to have access to edtech or not? Is it actually more of a privilege to be able to opt out and say, I'm going to homeschool my kids? Or again, anecdotally, one of these people was like, well, my child goes to a private school where they don't have any computers. Well, that is nice if you can go to.
00:36:25 Speaker 5: Private.
00:36:25 Val: School, but not everybody can. And not everybody has that choice. So.
00:36:33 Matt: But again, so I guess my challenge on that one would be, well, what are they doing? What's their magic formula? Like this is not a McDonald's that like there's a secret sauce in there that well, what are they doing? What's what's truly different.
00:36:48 Val: At the private.
00:36:48 Matt: School? Yes.
00:36:49 Val: But money, I would imagine.
00:36:52 Matt: Like a whole lot of.
00:36:53 Val: Money.
00:36:54 Matt: Per kid. Yeah.
00:36:56 Matt: Yeah. But what does that actually come down to? Like, is it does it actually mean resources? Does that mean the qualifications of the teachers? Does that mean, you know, the pay is, you know, is a little bit different? Well, what's then different about that teacher? Right. I mean, this gets into kind of some other questions for me, whereas why I come back to how do we make the teacher get the help they need so they can be great?
00:37:23 Val: Well, and it, and it will be interesting to talk to Christina because even just,
00:37:27 Matt: It's making me more pumped to go.
00:37:29 Val: Well.
00:37:29 Matt: Again, even that episode. Yeah.
00:37:32 Val: I want to kind of go ahead and review some big ideas and wrap this up because I, we may have been talking for like an hour at this point.
00:37:40 Matt: It's been an hour for sure.
00:37:41 Matt: Yeah.
00:37:42 Val: Um, some of the big ideas that we kind of went through were clearly school districts and states are, coming up with cell phone bans. They've clearly seen this device as a problem in classrooms. But with that, as kids do, they just kind of move on to the next thing. And whether or not that next thing is smartwatches or the literal classroom issued laptops, we're still being distracted because we're humans and we're distractible. Yeah.
00:38:15 Matt: Do they even let them do, like, the smart glasses? Sorry. That is a total I can't cancel. No, you can't say that, Matt. We're done.
00:38:24 Val: And to be fair, I mean, there are so many different opinions that people have on how to educate kids. The best way to do it, the best way to track it. So this this was always going to be a pretty heavy, meaty topic. Like, there is so much to unpack here. And we were really trying to just look at what is happening in states, what they are implementing, what they have implemented already, what to kind of look forward to in the future. Like we said, like, what are these systems that schools already are using? what to expect? Again, I, you might be surprised, but I kind of think that it's here to stay. Mhm. I think that especially with the integration of the learning management systems and how fully integrated they are with each other, I think that they're here to stay.
00:39:18 Matt: Worked for the Vulcans, so I'm just kidding.
00:39:22 Val: As as unreliable as they may be, I think that whether it's a one to one ratio or like you said, just a classroom set that we use every once in a while, I have a feeling that laptops are here to stay. And these learning management systems are here to stay if your child is in public school.
00:39:43 Matt: Mhm. No, I mean, I totally agree. And I think that's makes a ton of sense. I think these things are they got to be there. Um, I think that's why this, this next episode is going to be so much fun is just really kind of talking to, a true practitioner there that's been, you know, statewide recognized.
00:40:05 Val: She's also an advocate for the Missouri Teachers Union, and she does a lot of work with them.
00:40:10 Matt: Very much plugged in, but I, I look to that just, somewhat hopeful there. Um, I think the thing unfortunately what's happening though is I think with this whole setup, we are forgetting the teacher. We are forgetting the other, human in the room. Yeah. so everyone's like, AI is going to help the students. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, but it should actually be helping the teacher. If we can find that, I think it begins at least a starting point of relieving some of that pressure. But I think there's other forces at play. Unfortunately.
00:40:49 Val: That is so good. And I can't wait to talk with Christina.
00:40:52 Matt: I know, I know.
00:40:54 Matt: It's painful. I can't can't wait.
00:40:56 Matt: Cool.
00:40:56 Val: Please tune in next time and hear our interview with Christina. We are so excited and thank you for sticking with us on this one. We know.
00:41:05 Matt: Well really.
00:41:06 Matt: Edit it.
00:41:06 Val: It was.
00:41:07 Matt: Really we know that.
00:41:08 Val: It got got pretty meaty there. So thank you guys.
00:41:12 Matt: Thank you everybody take care.