Stop Hitting Snooze on the “EdTech” Problem
Guest Op-Ed by Vermont 9th Grader, Agnes M. Derrendinger
Note from Emily: I sometimes hear “we need to listen to young people” when it comes to issues like phone policies in schools, but then find those saying this are looking for a way to deflect our responsibility as adults to care for children and instead acquiesce to the demands of screen-dependent teenagers or savvy and powerful technology company marketing campaigns. This shortchanges the voices of youth who don’t just want to scroll Instagram during class, but who actively see screen use— both personal and educational— as a crisis we can’t ignore— voices like those of Agnes, a brilliant 9th grader in Vermont, who not only navigates life without email, a cell phone, or a Chromebook, but also calls on adults to actually do some adulting. This Op-Ed can also be found in The Caldonian Record.
Stop Hitting Snooze on the “EdTech” Problem
To the Editor:
Furthermore, what I observe firsthand almost every day are not only the flaws in the system, but for what questionable reasons devices are needed in the classroom to begin with.
I have toured a few local high schools, and the noticeable pattern is that computers are mainly relied on to play “educational games,” type up papers, have quick access to research resources, and email (AKA reminding students of homework assignments that they should have written down in a planner, of which I spied none). But aren’t schools supposed to teach organization and responsibility, or am I crazy?
All I know is I can’t lie to myself about what I directly see: classmates consistently forgetting tasks and due dates even with Google Classroom at my own school, and how the first thing my peers do upon opening their Chromebook is not to write their essay, but text each other through Google Docs, or scroll, or search up gambling websites. As for research, taking a quick trip to the library has never yet failed me, and even the teacher at a school I recently visited admitted that all the resources needed to complete projects, in fact the whole curriculum, were available in analog form. The kids just liked the shortcuts, which are fine by all means in certain situations, but unfortunately not when it comes to learning.
It’s not really even a shortcut to give any developing being the path of least resistance: it is a fundamental rule that doing so sets them up for failure later on, and in the case of students who will be in the workforce not too long from now, that does not bode well. We’re not even factoring in the distraction element and ineffective learning that comes with the obtainability of the appealing YouTube on the school-issued device.
In simpler terms, I am living proof that it is very possible to function without email and a Chromebook; and with that and all the failings in the current system I have described in mind, why not switch to a computer lab? If the reasonable seems daunting, rest assured: all hundreds of Vermonters are currently asking for is for schools to not give them a hard time for wanting the better option for their kid: to partake in the exact same curricula in a print-based manner.
Vermont schools continue to hold their doors wide open for the destructive runoff of unchecked capitalism to flow in: the profiting off of hurting and disadvantaging the vulnerable, the kids whose interests should be put first. Which does not mean asking them for their input on how to use the dopamine-dispensing devices, in the same way that adults shouldn’t ask kids on their input for whether they should keep the candy around. Responsibility means taking action based on what independent research (of which there is an abundance on this topic) has proven.1
If it’s not enough to rail on about the destructiveness of Chromebook use in the classroom, then it may be helpful to bring up another issue with that specific widely used product: privacy law violations. Google is currently being sued for selling student data onward to literally anybody, also getting kids addicted to porn on school devices.2
It’s time for schools to wake up and realize that their whole purpose—to promote the academic and social success of children—is being compromised by the use of a largely needless and infuriatingly ineffective product. The alarm went off long ago when test scores and grades began to decline exactly when in-class laptop and tablet use was implemented.34 Lawmakers, too, keep hitting snooze on a concern that feeds the overall declining quality of the nation’s education, a topic that in itself clearly seems a huge priority within the legislature.
All that families want is the choice to give their kids a childhood: education, health, and play that doesn’t risk either of those things. So give us the choice to opt out of the tech that can ruin it.
Agnes Derrendinger is a writer and a 9th grader from Middletown Springs, VT.
Horvath, Jared Cooney. Written Testimony to U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. Jan 15, 2026. www.commerce.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/doc/Horvath_Written%20Testimony.pdf
