The state of public education is a mess. At the heart of it is a real struggle about a fundamental question: How much tech should our kids be exposed to daily in the classroom?

Contrary to what parents have been told by public schools nationwide, there is no single one-size-fits-all solution for kids and that includes the use or non-use of tech tools like artificial intelligence (AI) in classrooms.

Also, did those high-tech school districts warn you your kid’s basic math skills would erode so much that she/he would be tethered to a tech device for the rest of their lives?

Priten Soundar-Shah, author of Ethical Ed Tech: How Educators Can Lead on AI and Digital Safety in K-12, shares a better way forward based on the intelligent and deliberate use of technology that fosters better engagement in our public schools this week on Spirit Gym.

Learn more about Priten and his much-needed work in the non-profit sector at his website. Listen to his podcast, Margin of Thought with Priten, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen to them. You’ll find him on social media via Instagram, Linkedin and TikTok.

Read the opening chapter of Priten’s book, Ethical Ed Tech, for free at this website. Buy his book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Bookshop and upload your receipt, and you’ll receive several free resources, including an exclusive bonus chapter and video course.

Timestamps

7:39 Living the life of a non-profit entrepreneur, tech tool-builder and teacher.

19:14 The conversations about the role of tech in schools moved from teachers to big tech companies.

26:03 Reading a book on how to read inspired the name for Priten’s podcast.

32:26 How do know what red is if you don’t experience it?

44:36 How do you persuade kids to eat vegetables and learn things too?

50:19 Making things happen faster and easier — what tech does best — is often not the best environment for learning.

58:00 Paul’s crashing conversation with Claude about generating faulty AI art.

1:02:47 There is no one-size-fits-all solution for improving education and that includes the use/non-use of tech like AI.

1:11:40 Gamified engagement versus learning engagement.

1:18:06 Are we so dependent on technology that your kid’s basic math skills have been “downloaded” to a digital calculator on a cell phone?

1:25:30 The case studies featured in Ethical Ed Tech provide scenarios and options for the ethical use of tech in schools, not absolute solutions.

1:33:17 One unintended consequence of tech dominance in schools: A fixation on measuring and controlling every aspect of them (including reading and test scores).

1:46:11 There’s no community consensus on the purpose of schooling.

1:53:36 The real-world limits on how much schools can solve external factors like personal flourishing, contributing to the world and how a kid feels about herself/himself away from school.

2:03:21 Priten hopes schools will deal with AI faster than they did cell phones (10-15 years).

Resources

AI and the Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Priten Soundar-Shah

Pedagogy Futures

Academy 4 Social Civics

The work of Confucius

Paul’s podcast conversations with Dr. Jared Horvath and Elizabeth Nelson

The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again by Jared Horvath

The Living Soil and the Haughley Experiment by Lady Evelyn Barbara Balfour

Find more resources for this episode on our website.

Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music

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