I’m old enough to remember when Silicon Valley thought that every kid doing self-directed learning via Chromebooks/iPads was the *goal* Billions of dollars invested in “adaptive” learning tech and every kid in the country just wants to be with their teachers and friends.

I distinctly remember sitting in conference sessions about how all the adaptive personalized learning robots would allow every kid to ‘move at their own pace’ and wondering if any of these people had ever met an actual human child and why anyone thought this was a desired state.

If this pandemic teaches us nothing else, please let us fully appreciate the real value and magic of teachers that will never be replaced by anything on a screen or highfalutin algorithms.