We are teaching a generation raised on screens, and we aren’t being given the support or tools to compete with them

I saw these kids being brought up when I worked in restaurants in my 20’s. They were given tablets and phones to placate them in the sake of the parents not having to manage them. Any time they got fussy growing up, someone plopped a screen in front of them. They were literally programmed to view screens and devices as a natural solution to their problems. It’s why we see addiction characteristics in how they interact with their phones? You know how many times I’ve seen an 18 year old throw a full on temper tantrum because I took their phone from them FOR AN HOUR. I’ve had a kid get stranded at school because on his first day of freshman year he didn’t pay attention to which bus number he got on in the morning because he was texting his friends. I get it, the screens are probably more entertaining than what’s happening in class most of the time. But we have to have a conversation about the damage being done to children who are being raised by their screens and not their parents.

And we simply aren’t being given the things we need to be able to reach a generation that was raised like this. We are force-fed educational models designed for suburban white kids and being told to make them work in Title I schools. We are frequently left without support from our administrators, often with teachers being hung out to dry to appease loud parents. Kids are sent to guidance counselors for behavior issues and returned to class in 15 minutes with a bag of chips and a smug grin. There are definitely still good kids out there, and parents who care and support teachers, but I feel like as each year goes by the number of parents who make excuses for bad behavior or even outright deny it happened is growing.