Gavin Newsom Wants Phones Out Of School, After He Brought AI to Schools

With great panache, in a post on Twitter, California Governor Gavin Newsom shared a Politico headline writing: “It’s time to limit the use of smartphones during the school day. When our kids are in school, they should be focused on learning — not their screens.”

Meanwhile the New York Post reports:  “The Los Ageles School District, Second-largest school district in US creates ‘Phone-Free School Day’ that bans devices — even during breaks, in an effort to quell rising youth anxiety and cyberbullying.

“When I talk to teachers and students and parents … I also hear the same, which is that more and more time is being spent on policing student phone use. There’s not a coherent enforcement and they’re looking for some support from the board and from the district,” Nick Melvoin, the LAUSD school board member who spearheaded the ban, told ABC 7.

After Los Angeles Unified School District launched ED, characterized as ‘a Pioneering Learning Acceleration AI Platform to Improve Student Achievement,’ a “personal assistant,” to help them with everyday tasks and remind them about school work when they forget. “The tool, named Ed, is the first of its kind in the nation and will be able to accommodate students verbally and on screen in 100 languages.”as reported by  EdSource’s Mallika Seshadari.After artificial intelligence tools were linked to declining intqellectual performance and memory loss. Students tend to turn to ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence tool, when faced with increased academic workload and time constraints, according to new research published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. The study also reveals a concerning trend: reliance on ChatGPT is linked to procrastination, memory loss, and a decline in academic performance. These findings shed light on the role of generative AI in education, sIuggesting both its widespread use and potential drawbacks.

Earlier this week, EdSource’s Diana Lambert reported “Teachers work more hours with a lower average base pay than other working Americans with similar vocations, according to a national Rand survey released today. The flawed in the survey is “similar vocations,’ as shown by the National Education Association found California’s teachers and professors had the highest average salaries in the U.S.

Using Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, teachers who complain about overwork, salary and stress, should not be teaching:

A majority (72%) of eighth graders were not proficient in math and a majority of fourth graders were not proficient in reading in recent years, according to a new report cited by King5.com

And another study ranks California 35th in education

Universities in Oregon are saying the costs of operating a higher education institution are becoming more and more overwhelming.But Compare the increase in the cost of college with the increase in the Consumer Price Index, the cost of medical care, and the cost of a new car over the last 41 years. While medical costs have risen at almost two and a half times the rate of inflation, the cost of college tuition and fees has exceeded inflation by more than four times!

Meanwhile the teachers unions and Propagandists created $1.7 Trillion in student debt worth of useless degrees.The silver lining? The most in-demand jobs in the next decade require no college degree!

So, who is to blame for disastrous academic performance? Technology, such as smartphones in schools as Gavin Newsom argues? Overworked, stressed and underpaid teachs as the research published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education indicates or is it mercenary, vocationless teachers as the research by similar vocations,’ as shown by the National Education Association indicates?

What is clear is that there’s a growing body of research showing self-serving research is highly suspect.

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