In an era in which technology invades our daily lives and schools claim to include iPads, computers and digital screens in their classrooms, there are schools like the Acorn School in London that shows us a face completely Opposite and anachronistic: prohibits screens in class and also at home until age 12.
The children enrolled there have no contact with the screens. They cannot watch TV (not even movies), or use mobile phones, computers and tablets during school hours or at home. Not even on vacation.
"No-tech" philosophy
His philosophy lies in a personalized education, he has only 42 students enrolled for this course ranging from 7 to 14 years. They think screens and technologies are causing a negative impact on children's personality development, at a stage where other values must be promoted.
Up to 12 years, all contact with the screens is prohibited. From that age on, only documentaries on television are allowed, but no movies or series. Computers, only to write works from the age of 14 and until 16 no student can use the internet.
At Acorn School, children are engaged in activities that most schools do not do today. In addition to homework, they weave, cultivate, work wood and make their own notebooks.
Why suppress technology when it can be added?
I understand the philosophy of the school and it doesn't seem bad to me that activities that are positive for the development of the little ones, such as manual work, handwriting, contact with nature ...
But I think sometimes the new scares and looks like a threat. Technology has bad things, we don't deny it, but it also has many other very good ones. The key is knowing how to manage it so that children make adequate and reasonable use of it.
What I don't see well is the concept of prohibiting, of isolating them from something that is part of everyday life such as technology, something that is natural for children. In a society where children know how to use a smartphone before learning to walk I see an anachronistic type of education like the one raised by this school.
Nor do I believe that placing a digital screen in the classroom and that students use iPads is a guarantee of modernity. No wonder that the OECD report ensures that the incorporation of new technologies in class has not improved student learning. The key is to adapt the educational model (which is anachronistic) to the needs of today's digital natives.
It is a very interesting debate when considering the education of our children. We would like to know your comments. What do you think about the philosophy of this type of education? Would you send your children to a school like that? Are you worried about their integration into today's technological society?
