Good morning. Today, we're writing about how schools are struggling to keep pace with technology — as well as the 2024 election, Israel and politics-free weddings.
The school tech problem
As the new school year begins, school districts across the United States are cracking down on cellphones in classrooms. Teachers are tired of constantly pressing students to stop watching TikTok and messaging friends during class. In many schools, students have also used phones to threaten or bully their classmates. As a result, as I note in a story today, at least eight states, including Indiana and Pennsylvania, have adopted measures this year to limit cellphones in schools. But the phone crackdowns illustrate a larger issue. Technology rules and safeguards in schools often lag far behind student use and abuse of digital tools. And it's not just phones — school-issued laptops, tablets and classroom apps can also become sources of distraction and bullying. In today's newsletter, I'll highlight some of the tech challenges schools are facing. Student cellphone bansSchools have been trying to limit student phone use for decades. Maryland banned students from bringing pagers and "cellular telephones" to school in the late 1980s as illegal drug sales boomed. In the 1990s, as mobile phones gained traction, some schools barred the devices to stop the chirping from disrupting class. Since the 2000s, though, it's also gone the other way. As school shootings became more common, many districts began allowing mobile phones as a safety measure. And, after the rise of iPhones, some schools that had barred cellphones reversed the bans in part because some lower-income students who did not own laptops used them for schoolwork. Now, phone bans are trending again, partly in response to public concerns over youth mental health and social media use. This year, Indiana, Louisiana and South Carolina passed laws that bar student cellphone use either during class or the entire school day. Some governors have been bullish, promising "cellphone-free" learning and decreased classroom screen time. The bans are hardly school tech panaceas. But they can have positive effects. Some schools have reported increased student engagement and fewer incidents of phone-related fights and bullying. But there are mixed reports on whether the bans actually improve students' academic outcomes. A.I. abuseThe problem facing schools, though, is that technology often moves faster than policy. As districts were still wrestling with cellphones, a new threat arose: artificial intelligence. In early 2023, some prominent districts rushed to block A.I.-powered chatbots on school-issued student laptops and school Wi-Fi. Administrators feared that chatbots like ChatGPT, which can generate human-sounding book reports and other texts, could enable mass cheating. So many schools were caught off guard last fall when male students began using other A.I. tools for a darker purpose: to create fake sexually explicit images of their female classmates. In one New Jersey high school, administrators announced over the school intercom the names of girls who had been subjected to the faked images. In a Seattle-area high school, boys shared A.I.-generated nude images of ninth-grade girls in the lunchroom. But the school did not report the incident to the authorities until a police detective, who heard about it from the girls' parents, informed administrators they were required to do so. A.I. cheating fears have since abated, as districts start to train both educators and students how to use chatbots as tools for teaching and learning. But so far, few schools have developed specific policies or rules around A.I. image abuse.
Distracting classroom techRemote learning during the pandemic made school-issued laptops, along with school messaging and learning apps, far more common. But even apps intended to help students research topics, write essays and collaborate with peers can lead to distractions and enable bullying. Teachers say students regularly use school-issued devices like iPads to surreptitiously take photos of their classmates, and then use the images to spread mean memes through school communication tools like Microsoft Teams. (Microsoft said schools could use controls in Teams to monitor or block student chats.) Students are also often able to bypass school internet filters and spend class time playing games or watching YouTube videos. In many schools, students spend much of the day glued to these laptops or tablets, meaning phone bans may not ultimately reduce overall classroom screen time. To remedy the school tech problem, critics say, lawmakers must push social media platforms, A.I. start-ups and other technology developers to install the digital equivalent of speed limits, seatbelts and airbags. Districts, they say, must also do a better job of educating teachers and students on tech harms and responsible technology use. Essentially, some say, we should follow the model of another program that has for many decades taught young people how to handle powerful machines without harming themselves or others: It's called drivers' ed. Tell your story: I'd love to hear from educators, students and parents about your experiences with school tech. If you're interested, you can share them with me here.
Democratic Campaign
Republican Campaign
International
Other Big Stories
Is Tim Walz too progressive? Yes. Kamala Harris's running mate could have demonstrated a move to the center — but she chose Walz. "At this point, Harris herself is going to need to show that she can stand up to the Democratic base voters," Carolyn Bourdeaux, a former member of Congress, writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. No. Walz gives rural voters permission to embrace progressive ideas, and to vote for a party they might otherwise consider too urban. "His position essentially is this: If being progressive means that we take care of working families, then he will wear that as a badge of honor," The Washington Post's Michele Norris writes.
"CBS Evening News" is replacing its female anchor with two men. The decision puts the industry more behind the times than it already was, Katie Couric writes. Juan Gabriel was a musician who represented both queerness and his Mexican roots. He taught Mexicans that the two identities don't have to be at odds, Maria Garcia writes. Here are columns by Ross Douthat on Biden and Maureen Dowd on Trump. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer.
Monet and "Moana": The Times asked readers to share what got them through their grief. Here's what they said. Routine: A subway mosaic artist spends her Sundays making Taiwanese breakfast and practicing the violin. Tastemakers: Dirt, a trendy newsletter about digital culture, has big ambitions. A politics-free zone: Some couples are trying to prevent their weddings from becoming venues for heated debates. Vows: Three rings, two college students and one big risk. Lives Lived: Eddie Canales was a human rights advocate who fought to save migrants trekking through the harsh terrain of South Texas. He died at 76.
This week's subject for The Interview is Senator James Lankford, a Republican who negotiated the bipartisan immigration bill that Trump helped defeat earlier this year — the same bill that Harris has promised to revive if she becomes president. You seem to have won every concession from Democrats that Republicans wanted. And I'm curious now, in hindsight, why you think that's true. Do you think Democrats and the Biden administration in particular realized that they had a problem on their hands at the southern border? So, yes, I believe that the administration came to the table because they understood this is spiraling out of control. And quite frankly, I think they perceived they could say, "OK, those crazy Republicans, they forced us to be able to pass this bill, so we're going to implement this," when they actually quietly wanted to say, "OK, we've got to make this stop." Were you optimistic that it could succeed? I was. And all signs indicated that your optimism was actually founded until Trump came out forcefully against the bill. He was basically whipping against it from Mar-a-Lago. Did he call you personally? We did not talk during that time period, actually. And on my part, that was intentional, because of that exact question. I didn't want this to be perceived as, this is President Trump actually trying to run this bill. That would be toxic to my Democrat colleagues. I honestly believe that exact bill would have passed in December, but by the time it got into February, it became immediately the major focus in the election, because, as you recall, the Republican primary suddenly got resolved. It looked very obvious that President Trump was going to be there, and everything collapsed at that point. If that bill would have gone in December, I think it would have passed. Read more of the interview here.
Click the cover image above to read this week's magazine.
Two worlds: The Bookshop Band performs music inspired by literature. A Times writer went on a musical pilgrimage to see the group perform. A literary guide: Read your way around Denver. Recommendations: "I thought I disliked these authors. I was happy to be wrong." Our editors' picks: "Frostbite," about how refrigeration changed our food and our planet, and five other books. Times best sellers: Fred Trump III portrays the complex legacy of his family in "All in the Family." It is new this week on the hardcover nonfiction list.
Listen to songs with great guitar cues. Watch the Perseids meteor shower reach its peak tonight. Clean your yoga mat. Use the best grill tools.
What to Watch For
Meal Plan
If you have an overstuffed freezer, it may be time to clear it out. In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Mia Leimkuhler offers recipes to help you do that, including a West Indian coconut curry with cod, spicy shrimp patties and broccoli-walnut pesto pasta.
Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were kitchen, kitchenette and thicken. Can you put eight historical events — including the X-Men and the Hubble Space Telescope — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.
|
-
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario