Screenagers

Hi there,

Welcome to everyone from my other education newsletter which has been merged into the Forge Prep NL. We’re now at 2344 subscribers, and I suspect by year-end, this will be 1 of the biggest newsletters in education.

Can I ask a favor?

Please tell your friends (and enemies) about this newsletter and encourage them to sign up.

Today, I’m trying a slightly different format.

By focusing mostly on just 1 topic.

That topic is technology in schools.

There will still be some miscellaneous in here too, but lmk what you think.

Tech is NOT here to save the day

First, it was iPads.

Then, Chromebooks.

Now, it’s AI.

Each was going to revolutionize education.

Each helped a tech giant train the next gen how to use and get hooked on their tools.

And as for those lofty education gains?

The impacts appear to be insanely negative if you listen to this testimony by Dr. Jared Horvath, an educator turned cognitive neuroscientist.

Here's what happened per Dr Horvath:

"Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform us on basically every cognitive measure we have, from basic attention to memory, to literacy, to numeracy, to executive functioning, to EVEN GENERAL IQ, even though they go to more school than we did."

"Once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly, to the point where kids who use computers about five hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over two-thirds of a standard deviation LESS than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school. And that’s across 80 countries.”

I haven't seen any evidence that sitting in front of a screen, big or small, is good for young people (or anyone). This is sort of a “master of the obvious” comment tbh as we all intuitively know how bad and addictive these screens are.

But for the evidence-obsessed, recent research by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) highlights achievement, engagement and even attendance gains from a ban on mobile phones.

TBH, the issue goes beyond mobile phones.

Walk into many public schools in this country and you’ll see kids sitting behind Chromebooks with headphones on. Not socializing, working together, playing, or creating but consuming.

And if you talk to those students, they always figure out a way to jailbreak the chromebook to get to games, YouTube, sports gambling sites, etc.

I’d recommend listening to this clip of Dr Horvath which you can find here. I’ll share the Forge Prep view/policy on tech below.

Ride or die for the quadratic formula

Last week, I shared a video called “I love school” where a student sarcastically said they love the quadratic formula.

Some of you took exception to that arguing it’s super important.

And it got us thinking that probably the most important math for daily understanding of the world is woefully neglected in our schools.

That math is probability and statistics and we wrote about why we need more of it in education here.

An excerpt from the essay is below:

Students who understands basic probability can immediately see through the false promises of gambling apps targeting their age group.

One who grasps statistical significance can better interpret health studies they encounter about supplements making grand promises about physical health.

These aren’t “someday you might need this” skills.

They’re immediately useful.

Software engineering and AI

Last week, we had Elon Musk talking about robots doing surgery in 3 years.

Today, it’s Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic (maker of Claude and chatGPT’s biggest and IMO better competitor) predicting AI will do most, if not all of what software engineers do in 6 to 12 months.

First, it is important to remember that both of these guys are ‘talking their book”.

Asking them if AI is going to displace jobs is is like asking your barber if you need a haircut.

There is only one answer.

And so as I said last week, the timelines are too optimistic but directionally right. Even if they’re each off by 4-5x, the result for our kids remains the same.

The jobs and careers that school tries to ready them for are rapidly changing and even going away.

Next week, I’ll discuss the principles for what education should look like in such a rapidly changing time.

Application window

We were overwhelmed by the response and number of applications we received as part of the Early Decision process which concluded on January 15th.

We expect 18-22 out of the 30 founding family spots for the 2026-27 school year starting in September 2027 will be taken by ED applicants.

This will leave 8 to 12 open slots at Founding Family tuition rates.

You can apply here.

Many of you responded to the last email saying finding a time on the calendar was difficult, but we’ve grown our team so it should be easier to find a spot now.

You can book a time here.

Regular decision applications are due by February 15th, but interviews and decisions will be made as applications come in until we have our 30 student Founding Family class finalized.

Creation vs consumption

Here's how we're thinking about technology use at Forge Prep

This is taken directly from 1 of the enrollment docs we send to parents.

Phones Don't Belong Here

Campus is mobile-free. Students don't bring phones to school, i.e, not in lockers, not in backpacks, nowhere. Every minute matters so we don’t want Guides spending time policing devices.

This isn't negotiable, and it's also not a sacrifice. Evidence shows students prefer it and early data suggests this is better for student achievement and engagement.

Technology Serves Creation, Not Consumption

Students use technology constantly at Forge to build, design, research, code, film, and document their work. Computers, cameras, design software, and even smartphones are used when projects require them. (Note: we will provide the smartphones)

What we don't allow: technology that displaces thinking, fragments attention, or trains passive consumption habits. YouTube tutorials to learn a skill? Yes. YouTube rabbit holes? No.

The goal isn't less technology. It's better technology habits which encourage using tools to create rather than consume.

Living in my head rent free

Going to bring this feature over from my other newsletter.

Someone sent me this, and I wondered what parent views on online classes would be today.

73% of parents supporting online high school coursework in 2020 makes sense given the pandemic.

But given the news about screens and their impact on kids, I wonder what this would be today? I’ve not found updated data but would be curious if you’d be pro/against online coursework.

Alright, this got lengthy.

If you have ideas, feedback, questions, etc, just reply to this email as responses go right to me.

I’m excited to hear from you.

Have the best day.

Forge ahead,

Anand

Co-founder, Forge Prep

P.S. Have you seen The Forge Journal? This is a collection of essays we’ve written that share our thinking on student development, education and more. You can see all the essays here.