Has Big Tech Captured America's Schools? (linkedin.com)
- Reference: 0185302014
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/08/30/1735223/has-big-tech-captured-americas-schools
- Source link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/natasha-singer-nyt_how-big-tech-captured-american-schools-share-7497271137853272064-72nx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGwTkoBuTtZDbOMlfA66NPuU0-i_GXhd2s
The reporter concludes that "Silicon Valley's efforts to capture the attention of education professionals and provide student training materials can also double as marketing or indoctrination."
> They enable some of the most powerful corporations on the planet to spin rosy technology stories for administrators, teachers and students, giving them a sanitized view of industry practices and product risks. Many parents would likely object if, say, Exxon Mobil wrote their children's environmental science curriculum. Or if Purdue Pharma trained their children's biology teachers. Yet, over the last decade, schools have often embraced the technology industry in similar ways with few questions asked.
The article excerpts the soon-to-be-released book " [2] Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools ," with the reporter [3]adding more thoughts on LinkedIn :
> Every few years, Silicon Valley has urged American public schools to quickly adopt the latest technology or teach the latest tech subject: Big Data analytics; laptops for every child; algorithm-driven math and reading apps; compter programming; virtual reality. And each time the urgent arguments sounded remarkably similar: if schools just adopted the latest tech tool, or taught the latest tech subject, it would democratize learning for every child and equip students with valuable career skills.
Despite good intentions, "today we know some of those classroom tech drives did not exactly pan out as advertised."
> Now some of the same companies that urged schools to provide laptops and coding lessons are employing similar arguments to urge schools to quickly adopt A.I. tools. I've spent years covering Chromebooks and student chatbot use. And I'm troubled by our collective amnesia around school tech.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [4]theodp for sharing the article.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/business/schools-big-tech-google-microsoft.html?unlocked_article_code=1.71A.4SHy.6LBt-j0JIpQh&smid=url-share
[2] https://amzn.to/46AsPdW
[3] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/natasha-singer-nyt_how-big-tech-captured-american-schools-share-7497271137853272064-72nx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGwTkoBuTtZDbOMlfA66NPuU0-i_GXhd2s
[4] https://www.slashdot.org/~theodp
Like Macs back in the early 2000s (Score:2)
I remember being in school in the early 2000s, and the teachers were all regularly given macs that they absolutely did not need, given the most complicated thing most of them were doing was spreadsheets. Then, after the teachers had gotten used to using macs, Apple stopped donating the units to schools. This stuff has been going on forever, and it's just one of many, many ways corporations screw around with schools.
Billionaires (Score:3)
Billionaires have captured American schools. They've been spending a shitload of money to take over the school boards. There have actually been several cases where they went too far and they elected people who are just too fucking crazy and they lost after a few semesters of them doing their crazy shit.
Peter thiel and Elon Musk want a remake human civilization in their image and they're both absolutely fucking crazy and we all know it. But because they're kind of weird looking us nerds have a sort of kinship with them as the guys who made good. Kind of like how the Italian mob shows up at your business and breaks everything and makes you pay protection money but you're still looking up to the Don. Only much much stupider because both of those men are idiots who just blundered into a bunch of money
Re: (Score:2)
I never felt any kinship for Musk and it was clear to me from the beginning that Thiel is an enemy of freedom and Science. These days I just think of them as the Space Nazi and the rich cultist. Not good people. And not smart people either. "Blundered into a bunch of money" describes it well.
Yes and kids privacy is dead (Score:2)
It is impossible to refuse to agree to Google ToS if school, for example, decides to use Google Classroom.
Not the problem you think it is (Score:2)
I grew up in a state where Honeywell, Motorola, Intel, Allied Signal and a thousand supporting tech companies were based, and you know damn well that there was a great effort to educate people to fill positions at those companies, with early identification of IQ in grade school, alignment with college degrees in High School and industry sponsored technical majors in college.
That is nothing new
The intrusion of political indoctrination into the public school system IS a continuing problem
This is exacerbated w
Re: (Score:2)
The low wages argument doesn't really follow:
"The average ENTRY LEVEL TEACHER SALARY in the Washington, as of August 2026, is $29.24 an hour or $60818 per year. "
[1]https://www.ziprecruiter.com/S... [ziprecruiter.com]
Local employers do influence the local schools, no argument there. I grew up near a paper mill town. Shop classes for boys were very important. What little interest there was in pushing students toward higher education was reserved for the girls to make the next batch of teachers and nurses.
The general principle is
[1] https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Entry-Level-Teacher-Salary--in-Washington
Since 1700s (Score:2)
Our main learning style ( lecture with notes taking) education system was originally designed in Britain to ready children for factory jobs.
Alternatives concepts such as question asking (Socratic), student debate, and student presenting were considered but rejected.
They wanted:
master/servant relationship aka obedience
less creativity
larger classes
Invoking Betteridge to make a thing not true (Score:2)
is about as effective as washing your car to make it rain.
the universe knows what you're up to and it won't work.
Maybe? (Score:2)
I mean, [1]teachers [youtu.be] can get kind of [2]desperate [youtube.com] for assistance in various areas, so sure, I don't doubt their resourcefulness in using tech to meet their needs.
[1] https://youtu.be/ZDo5QUJBTAw?si=y4rqFp7Fkm47MUfN
[2] https://youtube.com/shorts/tyE8RLuasBs?si=PUKMgy7dcwRCeoFx
Here's the reality (Score:2)
The reality is that the US has never really cared about making public education good, at least not in a long time.
The politicians under-fund public education and talk trash about teachers (while definitely sending their kids to private schools) leaving the public system ripe for exploitation by corporations that promise money and shiny things.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Instead the US depends on importing scientists and engineers and there only ones that basically agree with the system and ones that keep quiet will come. I guess that has not changed, but the numbers are going down drastically now. Well.
Re: (Score:2)
You just made a great argument for medicare for all. Excluding salaries, benefits is the biggest expense of nearly every employer.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, basically all of the 1st world has that figured out. One may even say all of it has that and the US only qualifies as 2nd world because it is so extremely behind in this important aspect.
Re: (Score:2)
It is a sign that you have to push this slop as an AC
The implementation of the public school system is left to state level politicians.
Arizona's universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) voucher program costs taxpayers roughly $1 billion a year, while public charter schools receive about $2.09 billion annually through the state funding formula.
This has been crammed down our throats by right wing politicians who get elected in the sticks, but push their political agenda in the large urban populations
We
Re: (Score:2)
Oh yes let's blame unions for everything. Honestly I don't get the anti-union sentiment that seems to be prevalent iin the US. Surely a volentery membership in an org that is supposed to protect your interests in negotiations with your employer would shortly be n advantage? What am I missing?
Re: (Score:1)
Around the time my class graduated, everyone thought a degree in computer whatever was the way to go... so we ended up with about half of the 3 million that graduated going for computer whatever degrees... low and behold, there weren't that many computer whatever jobs available.
This generation will have the same issue, although exacerbated by losing jobs to AI and entry-level job requirements being moved to a higher goal post.
The move to do all schooling online only guarantees that kids don't even need to k