A new book called Coding Kids looks at how tech companies won influence in schools over the past 15 years. Its author is New York Times reporter Natasha Singer.
Singer says tech firms pushed coding as the ticket to well-paid jobs. Schools then trained students on the companies' own products, creating future customers.
Now AI companies are making the same pitch to schools. Singer warns of 'collective amnesia' and says safeguards must come now, not a decade later.
🔍 The Backstory
Earlier tech pushes promised that computer skills would guarantee good jobs. By the time many students finished school, new tools had changed that promise.
Singer says some lessons have been learned. Schools are now more careful about AI than they were about coding. Still, she says the pattern keeps repeating.
Her book traces how company money and free resources shaped what millions of children learned.
🎯 Why It Matters
What your school teaches shapes your future job choices. Classrooms should follow what helps students, not what helps a company sell products.
A new book called Coding Kids looks at how tech companies won influence in schools over the past 15 years. Its author is New York Times reporter Natasha Singer.
Singer says tech firms pushed coding as the ticket to well-paid jobs. Schools then trained students on the companies' own products, creating future customers.
Now AI companies are making the same pitch to schools. Singer warns of 'collective amnesia' and says safeguards must come now, not a decade later.
Earlier tech pushes promised that computer skills would guarantee good jobs. By the time many students finished school, new tools had changed that promise.
Singer says some lessons have been learned. Schools are now more careful about AI than they were about coding. Still, she says the pattern keeps repeating.
Her book traces how company money and free resources shaped what millions of children learned.
What your school teaches shapes your future job choices. Classrooms should follow what helps students, not what helps a company sell products.