A new opinion piece argues that society has historically shielded children from the risks of emerging technologies—like commercial internet use—yet failed to extend the same protections as artificial intelligence increasingly shapes their learning. The author draws parallels between past policies that restricted cellphones in classrooms and the unchecked integration of AI-driven tools in education, questioning whether current safeguards adequately defend young students from potential harms. The piece suggests that while regulations have evolved to address other digital threats, the rapid adoption of AI in teaching may have left children exposed in ways previous generations were not. It calls for a reevaluation of how technology is deployed in schools to better prioritize child safety.
For 15 years, we let children carry cellphones into most of our classrooms. By the time states began ordering the phones out, a generation had spent its childhood inundated by screens. We had protected everything about the arrangement except for the children. Similarly, during the rise of the commercial internet, we wrote rules to protect […] The post OPINION: Our children need more protection from the AI that is teaching them appeared first on The Hechinger Report.
