Let me start with a story that is all too common these days:

A parent discovers her child is using YouTube on a school-issued device, much to her surprise. (YouTube is a social media platform, even if we don’t always think of it that way.) She emails the school to inquire why YouTube is allowed, when YouTube’s own terms and services say not only does a child have to be 13 years old to use the platform (therefore any children under grade 7 using YouTube for school are doing so in violation of YouTube’s terms), but that if children are “18 or younger” they must have “parental permission” to use the platform. She is concerned that she didn’t– and wouldn’t– consent to YouTube’s terms, and would like clarity.

Her district responded quickly. She was informed that because she signed the “Responsible Technology Use Agreement” for the district, she essentially consented on behalf of her child to use YouTube and “others” like it:

“By agreeing to this District’s Responsible Technology Use Agreement, I [the parent] give permission to this District to create and manage third party accounts including, not limited to, District G Suite Apps (Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Classroom, etc.), iReady, MyOn, Dreambox, Screencastify, Google CS First, YouTube, Google Golab, [state] College Guidance Platform, Nearpod, Adobe Spark and other Adobe products, Seesaw, FlipGrid, and others, for my child. These accounts are intended for students as they learn to use technology and then transition to using technology to learn.”

Forget what is meant by “etc.”, additional apps in the G Suite Apps, “other Adobe products,” or “others,” this is a list of 17 different products a school is saying a child needs to participate in school. Worse, even though each product is owned by a different company (and therefore each one will come with its own Terms of Service), this response assumes parental consent to these platforms and others. 

This is madness. (Which, of course, I’ve written about already.) 

Schools may say that they have the right to consent on behalf of children, but schools lack the legal authority to do this, especially without any notice to parents, which should include the data and privacy practices of every single platform used by the District, which again, could be in the hundreds (or even thousands). YouTube is an obvious one to be concerned about. But it’s far from the only one. 

Further, “Responsible Technology Use Agreements” are laughable because they often put the onus on parents (and therefore, children) to consent to complex legal jargon that most non-attorneys would be hard-pressed to understand. I have yet to see any example where a school district shares what role they play in privacy violations, data mining, or harms done to children on school-issued devices, let alone any justification that all this tech is better for learning (spoiler: it’s not). 

And finally, this sentence is particularly galling: “These accounts are intended for students as they learn to use technology and then transition to using technology to learn.”

Really? Show us the research– the independently-funded research– that shows all these platforms collectively improve learning (they do not), are better for students than an analog alternative (they are not), and even if they met those two criteria (and again, they don’t), how much money is spent by already cash-strapped schools in the name of “technology”? Who profits? (Hint: it’s not the kids or the schools. The argument for “more tech to help teachers” will provide future justification that teachers should serve more as a “guide on the side” than a critical component of learning. Budget cut woes are already leading to increased class sizes and teacher layoffs. Technology will be used to both “solve” and justify these changes.)

Spoiler alert: Children do not learn to use technology by using technology to then “transition to using technology to learn.” Huh? That makes no sense at all. The skills needed to operate “technology” (computers or iPads) are very, very simple. So simple, a toddler could do it (and many indeed do). But the skills of learning are incredibly different and do not require digital tools to build or acquire. “Information” is not the same thing as “knowledge.” As schools (and EdTech companies) argue that all this technology in school is part of being a 21st century citizen, what gets lost (or is misunderstood) is that learning isn’t the imparting of information– it is the imparting of knowledge, and knowledge builds upon itself in layers in the context of human relationships. Technology displaces all of that.

Put it this way: Do we argue that because children are going to learn to drive when they are 16 years old, we should start letting them operate vehicles when they are ten years old, so that they can “learn to use” the vehicle? The operation of a car is not fundamentally that complex– an 8-year-old recently drove her mom’s car to Target before police stopped her. But there is a reason we do not let children drive cars at age 8 or 10 or even 13: because their brains are not fully developed and they need to build other skills first– skills like executive function (which don’t fully develop until we’re well past age 20), critical thinking, empathy, and communication. None of these skills require technology and excessive use of technology in the name of education impedes the acquisition of these skills. 

I’m not alone in knowing this. Parental concern (and thankfully, outrage) is growing. Here are two recent comments I’ve received from parents as they start to realize how much EdTech is impacting their child’s ability to experience school as a learning environment:

• “We couldn't even register our children for the public school education without checking a REQUIRED box (with no other option) giving consent to their tech policy, which I actually 100% do not agree with but again had to get the registration completed.”

• “I just feel like the world was handed to him without us preparing ourselves or him.”

My vision for education is not a tech-free one, to be clear. I want to see schools return to the era of computer labs with trained technology teachers; school libraries where students learn how to research; typing programs to learn a basic technological skill before using computers at school. And it is even possible to envision a world with some digital educational tools– ones that don’t mine data, violate privacy, utilize manipulative design techniques, or line the pockets of greedy tech executives, of course. 

We have a long way to go, I know. 

But we have to start somewhere, and that’s where you come in. Small actions matter. Baby steps make a big difference. <Insert inspirational quotes here.> You know what I mean: collective action, as Jonathan Haidt talks about. E pluribus unum: out of many, one. Don’t underestimate our strength when we organize and act together. 

Here’s what we can do.

1. We can accept that EdTech causes more damage than good, and not be duped into thinking otherwise by the powerful and profitable companies who sell these products.

2. We can believe that what children (especially young ones) need is more tactile, hands-on learning, paper, and books. Not computers and tablets. 

3. We can approach our teachers and school leaders with kindness and curiosity, to seek their reasoning before we propose an alternative.

4. And most importantly, we can say No. We can say no to iPads for first graders. We can say no to YouTube in school. We can say no to the 17 or more apps we only vaguely understand and certainly don’t consent to. We can say no to school-issued tech. We can say no to 1:1 devices. 

On more than one occasion when I’ve suggested “opting out of EdTech” to a parent, their response is to gasp and say, “I didn’t know I could do that!”

But you can. We can. We are! 

There is absolutely a change in the winds about EdTech. Here are a few recent comments I’ve received about parents who’ve opted out, once they realized they could: 

• “The changes in our children [after Opting Out of EdTech] have been nothing short of a miracle in focus, desire and love to be at school and increased personal awareness.”

• “Before learning from you, I hadn't considered the amount of technology being used in her classroom.” 

• “I have learned much from you and am so grateful for your work and advocacy! I look forward to continuing on this journey and learning from you!”

• “We opted out and are still working on what our son’s alternatives will be instead of working on a Chromebook. Thank you for pursuing this movement. I hope all parents push for a healthier academic environment for their children.”

They did it! You can too!

Expect the unexpected. You may be surprised what you find out when you ask. One parent wrote to me to say that she was anticipating pushback, but was stunned to learn that her principal shared her concerns: 

• “He told me that he also has concerns about the amount of screen time creeping into schools and that he thinks it is all about money from big tech. He encouraged me to keep opting out every year and to talk to other parents about it.”

My activist colleague and former teacher, Randy Freiman, wrote to our group that:

• “No matter how good they are, Teachers can’t compete with the internet. As a result, a lot of teachers have just quit using Chromebooks. The carts sit in our rooms, but never get touched. Good teachers know that these devices are not as good of a tool for learning as our lessons and activities are. Unfortunately, the newer teachers feel pressure to show administration that they are integrating the latest technology and apps into their lessons.  It is hard to get them to not do this as they are trying to earn tenure and job security.”

Getting more parents to care and to opt out of school-issued tech, Randy writes, “will help to push teachers to create their own better lessons without using Chromebooks.” With more parents seeking to Opt Out, school leaders will eventually see that school-issued tech for what it is– a huge waste of resources with dubious benefits and potentially great harm.

Will you join us? 

For more on Opting Out of EdTech for your child, download our free toolkit here.

Fore more on your legal rights around Opting Out of EdTech, please visit The EdTech Law Center.