Tech in the Classroom: A History of Hype and Hysteria

If you're a parent, an educator, or just someone who's been to school, you've probably developed an opinion about generative AI in classrooms. You might fear the demise of the five-paragraph essay, the ever-increasing ease of cheating, or, worse, the end of critical thinking altogether. But don't worry: The anxiety surrounding large language models in schools is anything but unprecedented. In 1975, teachers fretted that handheld calculators would undermine students' capacity to "handle basic skills like reading, writing, and arithmetic," according to a report in The New York Times. Others, though, believed calculators could "free students to concentrate on basic principles."