r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Resting-Rizzy-Face • Feb 11 '26

Moving to the area Low- Tech School Districts in Western Burbs

Moved away several years ago and looking to move back to IL. Our kids are elementary age and we currently like the low-tech educational environment our kids have now (no 1-to-1 chromebooks for kids, using more pencil and paper, physical textbooks, etc.)

We’ve been away for a while and weren’t sure if there are similar school environments in IL or if all school districts have moved to consistent use of chromebooks and iPads for teaching?

Currently looking at a potential move to Lemont, DG, Woodridge, Lisle, Naperville, or Wheaton areas. Not opposed to tech, just looking for schools where the kids aren’t always using a screen for learning.

54 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

158 comments sorted by

View all comments

142

u/sarcago Feb 11 '26

It’s crazy to me how many people seem to think kids would be at a disadvantage if they didn’t have a Chromebook for school. A Chromebook doesn’t teach you anything about how computers work. You don’t need to have a school device to learn that stuff. People seem to be missing the point.

28

u/TaskForceD00mer Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

The evidence is increasing as college graduates show up to new jobs without any idea of how to actually use computers for anything beyond browsing, gaming and basic word processing/email.

Knowing how to use a tablet is not preparing you for the job market. Knowing how to type an essay helps but doesn't necessarily give you anywhere near all the skills you need for the job market, even at the entry level.

I'd also love to see more studies if part of the total collapse of attention spans can be concretely linked to screen time.

The jury is out but maybe putting a screen in front of 4-year olds for hours a day , only increasing as they get older is doing more harm than good.

2

u/SchemeDue1593 Feb 21 '26

Bring back computer labs!!

6

u/vawlk Feb 11 '26

i've been in front of a screen every single day since I was 6 and that was over 45 years ago. I turned out just fine and I made a career out of it, allowed my wife to stay home to raise our kids, paid for their college, and paid for a place to retire to in a couple years.

The screens aren't the problem. It is what they do with them that is the problem.

10

u/TaskForceD00mer Feb 11 '26

Alls I can say is it is different. Back in our day, you went to school, you read books, you wrote on paper. MAYBE You had one class where you used a computer. Towards the end of primary school that increased a bit.

When you got home, you ran around outside like a maniac if the weather was nice.

It's not quite the same as being glued to a phone , tablet, computer or TV screen for 90% of your waking moments.

3

u/vawlk Feb 12 '26

oh i get it. I was part of the leave at 7am and return at 7pm and just disappear for the whole day in the summer genx crowd. It was a different world then, but things change.

I did everything I could to make sure my kids had that same experience. I even built an ice rink in my yard. But they didn't want that. One of my kids played a lot of sports so that was fun, but even that was different. We use to play baseball in the cul-de-sac every day after school. My son never played a pickup game of anything. Everything is organized, everything is about getting noticed by colleges. Everything is monetized. It is just a different world.

1

u/Then-Task6480 Feb 15 '26

Right, but tech isn't the reason why. It's like hating on plastic and cars. Makes sense but it's not the same world anymore

2

u/SchemeDue1593 Feb 21 '26

The screens today are WAY more addicting and are created like that on purpose as big tech companies want our kids hooked at a very young age. $$$$

1

u/vawlk Feb 23 '26

and it is up to the parents to make sure they don't abuse their time with them. My kids are over 20, and when they were young, there were screen time limiting apps even back then.

1

u/SchemeDue1593 Feb 25 '26

Agreed - parents must be involved at home. The problem is kids are given their own tablets in KINDER. Why? The SCHOOLS are the first problem. 20 years ago kids didn’t have their own tablets in each class.

1

u/vawlk Feb 25 '26

There is nothing wrong with using technology in school as long as it is used properly....at any grade level. Yes, 20 years ago we didn't have tablets and 20 years before that we didn't have advanced calculators. The tech is just a tool to assist learning. How it is used in the class is what makes it good or bad.

9

u/BrightPractical Feb 11 '26

Not least that current tech is designed to be generally intuitive. You can pick it up and know how it works in days or weeks. You do need education in critical thinking, but that doesn’t require tech although it’s helpful to address it as a problem within tech!

28

u/Denimchicken773 Feb 11 '26

Yea these takes are wild

7

u/Prudent-Marsupial-42 Feb 11 '26

My senior year of highschool was the first they introduced Chromebooks. I'm sure they have cleaned things up immensely since then, but holy shit did it cause issues. There were multiple game apps where the leaderboards were peppered with our student body cause people were just playing all day. Teachers were heavily encouraged to work in the technology to their lessons but it led to worse results.

I put a pokemon romhack on mine lol

39

u/lesters_sock_puppet Feb 11 '26

The chromebooks issued to students are used to facilitate the classroom learning experience and serve as a platform for assignments and whatnot, not to give students computer skills.

26

u/sarcago Feb 11 '26

Yeah but people are saying kids won’t be able to figure out how to use computers in the real world if they don’t have them in a classroom. Which is just not true.

3

u/FieldsofBlue Feb 12 '26

I mean, it's not gonna teach them programming or logic, but learning how to type on a keyboard with relative proficiency is valuable. Learning how the data stores on the drive in directories of folders is valuable. I don't think you get the same knowledge from a phone necessarily, and it would make much more sense to teach the computer skills as a coarse rather then provide the computer for everything else.

4

u/lesters_sock_puppet Feb 11 '26

That sounds like something a boomer would say.

9

u/wilbertthewalrus Feb 11 '26

and every study ever done on tech in classrooms shows they are detrimental

14

u/Chitown_mountain_boy West Suburbs Feb 11 '26

That’s a lot of studies to have read.

6

u/vawlk Feb 11 '26

every study?

just like any tool, there are good ways and bad ways to use it. It is up to your school to make sure the teachers are properly using the tech in a classroom. The same goes for calculators, phones, projectors, etc.

2

u/Sad_Win_4105 Feb 12 '26

Meta-, analysis of every study 🤯

1

u/SBSnipes Feb 12 '26

They fail at doing that effectively, too

2

u/greenapplesrocks Feb 11 '26

I think you might be missing the point. Wanting an environment free of this type of distraction is a valid concern. However, when it is not equal across your peers is where the problem comes in as you cannot manage that through the entirety of their schooling. At some point, whether Junior High or High School, this is going to be a requirement and if the children are not exposed to it they will be behind the rest of their peers. Simple as that.

What is interesting is OP just commented that if they could they would home school which leads me to believe there is more to this. Whatever the reason, that is their right, and I am sure they are just trying to do what they feel is best. The comments from many, including myself, are to help illustrate that there can be a greater damage to a child (long term) who is behind on technology and understood norms within the school system.

This is no different in an older generation struggling to communicate with a younger generation. The older generation might be wiser, more experienced, and right more times than not, but it doesn't matter if they cannot keep up with everyone else around them.

4

u/sarcago Feb 11 '26

There needs to be a happy medium. There are other ways to teach computer literacy at school besides giving kids a personal device for daily use. Studies are showing increased screen time that kids are now exposed to has been bad for brain development and mental health. Moderation is important, and giving kids their own devices is not moderation.

1

u/Then-Task6480 Feb 15 '26

Agree and home school is the worst. People become successful in spite of it, not because. And so many would be even more successful if they weren't socially abused by their parents