The Failed Promise of Classroom Tech

Written by Ben Ward

For nearly 25 years, education bureaucrats and big tech companies have promised that more screens in the classroom would mean smarter kids and better outcomes. Instead, as a new Fortune piece details, we spent over $30 billion in 2024 alone on laptops and tablets—and wound up with the first generation in modern history scoring lower on standardized tests than the one before it.

Neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath told the U.S. Senate that Gen Z is now less cognitively capable than previous generations, with global data showing that more school screen time tracks with worse performance in core skills like reading and math.

Kids didn’t ask to be parked in front of screens all day; adults and policymakers did that.

Maine’s one‑to‑one laptop experiment was supposed to be a model for the nation; after 15 years and tens of thousands of devices, test scores didn’t budge and the program was ultimately branded a “massive failure.” The problem isn’t technology itself, but the way government‑run schools rushed to replace textbooks and direct instruction with distracting devices, while social media and short‑form video apps—deliberately engineered to be addictive—eroded students’ attention spans and deep thinking.

Horvath calls Gen Z “victims of a failed pedagogical experiment,” not villains, and he’s right: kids didn’t ask to be parked in front of screens all day; adults and policymakers did that.

This should be a wake‑up call for conservatives. If we want a generation capable of defending liberty, solving complex problems, and competing in an AI‑driven economy, we need education policy that puts proven learning first and gadgets second. That means:

Empowering parents with real school choice
Demanding evidence before districts buy the next shiny device
Backing common‑sense limits on classroom phone and screen use so teachers can actually teach

The Fortune article is a sobering indictment of what happens when ideology and tech hype override common sense in our schools—and it’s exactly why Republicans must lead on restoring rigorous academics, strong attention to basics, and accountability for the billions already spent.