Swedish government announced that the country’s schools would be going back to basics, emphasizing skills such as reading and writing, particularly in early grades. After mostly being sidelined, physical books are now being reintroduced into classrooms, and students are learning to write the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a pencil or pen, on sheets of paper. The Swedish government also plans to make schools cellphone-free throughout the country https://undark.org/2026/04/01/sweden-schools-books/
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@nixCraft Sweden also wanted to go 100% cashless until the Ukraine invasion, upon which they regained some perspective on the risks of rushing to break physical things.
Digital technologies can obviously be massively empowering, including some forms of "social media", including some forms of algorithmic data science (don't call me "AI") etc.
But its by now pretty darn obvious to anybody caring to look, that abuse, negative sideeffects and emerging risks can easily overwhelm the positives.
@nixCraft the only reason technology has a part in the classroom, is because that's what technology companies have to sell. Laptops don't unionise, strike for better pay and conditions, hold school management to account, or advocate for students.
The only variable ever shown to consistently increase academic outcomes, is hiring more teachers, so there are fewer students per teacher.
> Swedish government announced that the country’s schools would be going back to basics, emphasizing skills such as reading and writing,
A very bad idea.
There has been a lot of work on effective education and "back to basics" is a dog whistle for "throw it all away" and stop the "liberal indoctrination " of children
A shame, but Sweden has always been a bit like that
@nixCraft I still remember the smell of my favorite history book in 8th grade. It was like reading about the greatest adventures in a story book that smelled like old leather. I swear it did. history books are what made me fall in love with history, the human side of it.
@nixCraft this is actually a good thing and American schools need to follow suit.
@nixCraft I think taking away the emergency communication devices from all schoolchildren is probably bad, actually.
@nixCraft this is the best way to teach children's.. Cellphone free education😍
@nixCraft Whole country really said alright everyone, back to paper and no phones 😭
@nixCraft Wonderful. Skilled use of cellphones can then be taught in a class dedicated to doing it, with provided cellphones: Blocking, safety, anti-spam, how to switch off google's invasiveness, block tracking, etc. etc.
In the age of stupid LLMs and social media like TikTok or Insta this move is very important to teach kids fundamentals that can last longer than any tech bro's bullshit apps ever will. Well done, Swedish government.