I totally agree! My partner is a 7th grade science teacher. She is more competent from a technical perspective than most of the other teachers at her school and she utilizes Chromebooks, and Google Classroom to its fullest. She is really pleased with them as tools, because the alternatives are of such poor quality. Maybe I should go in and give a mini lesson on the privacy implications of using Google/monopolies in tech.
7th grade is completely reasonable to start opening their eyes to how the real world works - i.e. pretty much every person/company/entity you encounter is trying to manipulate you according to their own agenda. I wonder how we can balance the sense of wonder and optimism of youth with the hard lessons they need to know as they sally forth in the world.
A very good point you make - it's hard to walk the line with regards to keeping it real but not crushing students. For example, teaching climate change can be challenging.
