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It's a much bigger question/challenge than lack of hardware. With all respect, the model this assumes for how kids work... is just not how kids work. It's not

It's a much bigger question/challenge than lack of hardware. With all respect, the model this assumes for how kids work... is just not how kids work. It's not how attention works. Think about it like a movie. Kids at different ages will sit through movies of different lengths and subjects. Those movies have production budgets- of minimum thousands of dollars per second even at the lowest end, and shooting and editing commitments that are tens to hundreds or more person hours per video second. Expecting a live performer to engage not just 1 passive kid but n active kids with a new show every day over a screen- where every mistake or every blip doesn't get edited out in post but actually has to be dealt with in real time, while each kid has their own dynamics, their own family situations, their own issues PRESENT WITH THEM while all this is going on.... In terms of the quantity of human attention at production time to ensure consumer engagement- the ratio between a movie and a live person on the other side of the screen is, like, 1,000,000 to 1. It is NOT POSSIBLE to solve the engagement problem in the way that remote school is expected to solve for it and there is no model, resource, technology, or anything that makes it work. This is coming from a long time ed tech advocate, having built games and education platforms and worked in schools and having 3 kids of my own. What we are doing with remote school is INSANITY. Unfortunately, the alternatives are also insane. There is no solving anything. There's no what if. There's no answer. And more pointedly- it sounds like the poster here does not have kids. Pro tip, no offense intended- if you don't have kids- don't weigh in on these issues. You don't know what you're talking about. And you don't have any idea how much you don't know what you're talking about. It isn't worth it for you or for anyone else to engage. Have a nice day.

Analemma_ 6y ago
The author does allude to this, by mentioning that remote learning is almost worse than nothing. Honestly, we probably should just cancel at least the first half of the school year altogether, but that would mean admitting how utterly dismal our Covid response has been, and so it is not politically possible. Thus a whole generation of kids have to deal with this nonsense. It's a shame.
- Sebb767 6y ago
  > that would mean admitting how utterly dismal our Covid response has been Only if there would've been a better way. While COVID surely could've been handled a bit better overall, I don't think a lockdown was fully avoidable (note that it escaped Wuhan while the city was in a lockdown stricter than anything seen outside of Wuhan) and remote learning is, as shown above, not ideal either. So I don't think admitting that this school year was bad equals admitting a bad response to COVID.
bertjk 6y ago
> if you don't have kids- don't weigh in on these issues I agree, but would also add that even if you do have kids, they probably have personalities and circumstances unlike everyone else's kids. And that in all likelihood your sample size is too hilariously small to be able to produce useful broad generalizations from your experience.

Analemma_ 6y ago

The author does allude to this, by mentioning that remote learning is almost worse than nothing. Honestly, we probably should just cancel at least the first half of the school year altogether, but that would mean admitting how utterly dismal our Covid response has been, and so it is not politically possible. Thus a whole generation of kids have to deal with this nonsense. It's a shame.

Sebb767 6y ago
> that would mean admitting how utterly dismal our Covid response has been Only if there would've been a better way. While COVID surely could've been handled a bit better overall, I don't think a lockdown was fully avoidable (note that it escaped Wuhan while the city was in a lockdown stricter than anything seen outside of Wuhan) and remote learning is, as shown above, not ideal either. So I don't think admitting that this school year was bad equals admitting a bad response to COVID.

bertjk 6y ago

> if you don't have kids- don't weigh in on these issues I agree, but would also add that even if you do have kids, they probably have personalities and circumstances unlike everyone else's kids. And that in all likelihood your sample size is too hilariously small to be able to produce useful broad generalizations from your experience.