For True Learning, Digital Technology Is Not Essential

[Commentary] Sanders writes: Digital technology has never been essential to understand and engage with our founding documents. No doubt our children, in general, have shorter attention spans because of technological advances and would prefer to watch videos and play interactive games over old-fashion methods like reading, writing and rote memorization. And certainly new technology can and should play a supplementary role in educating young people. But the proposition that digital technology, with all its superfluous features, has become required for American students to learn effectively only serves to further distract from the root problem with American education today: a nearly total abandonment of the virtues of hard work, concentration and discipline.

Proffitt writes: My experience would support the construction of a tried-and-true learning foundation created by flashcards and memorization exercises rather than the creation of some fantasy designed to make us believe that academic failure is acceptable. Certainly, we would all like to ignore the truth, but the truth is that our educational system is broken, not because it's wrong, but because the teachers aren't allowed to teach in a disciplined environment devoid of excessive regulation. Other countries are using our old system with great success, and so can we.