Step back and reconsider what a high school diploma means. You are not qualified to be a software engineer with a highschool diploma, don't set software engineer-level expectations for them. A high school diploma means you can participate in society at a _minimum_ level. Just about any skilled trade requires additional schooling- not necessarily a bachelor's degree, but an apprenticeship, trade school, associates degree or some kind of certificate program is required. You can't even be a barber without additional training in most places.
Even before computers were ubiquitous, which office jobs would you say a high school graduate was qualified for? I'd say not much other than basic clerk duties, which requires some basic counting skills and record keeping. In today's times, that requires basic computer use skills because we use computers to perform those tasks, which high school graduates are capable of.
So with revised expectations, what about the technology integration in high school is inadequate? High school graduates can be expected to be able to type and use some word processing software and do basic data entry. That sounds like the right level to me. And consider the cost of a chromebook for a few years vs. the cost of feeding a child. More money gets spent on food than the cost of a chromebook, it's just that the food funding comes from multiple sources so you might not have considered the total cost. It's not like they are handing out brand new MacBooks every single year, chromebooks are about the lowest cost option for schools to have guaranteed technology access for students.
i’m specifically unhappy with the technology investment. I don’t see that the kids are more tech savvy, and i see no proof that US high school students are performing better than they were in years past, so why is the tech being pushed? Why not pay teachers better or improve school lunches a little bit? Why?
“guranteeed technology access for students” - that’s great, and was useful during covid remote learning, but that was an exceptional circumstance. I don’t see why a computer lab with 5-10 year old computers isn’t sufficient to learn how to use a word processor? Since we’re setting the tech literacy bar that low…
Even before computers were ubiquitous, which office jobs would you say a high school graduate was qualified for? I'd say not much other than basic clerk duties, which requires some basic counting skills and record keeping. In today's times, that requires basic computer use skills because we use computers to perform those tasks, which high school graduates are capable of.
So with revised expectations, what about the technology integration in high school is inadequate? High school graduates can be expected to be able to type and use some word processing software and do basic data entry. That sounds like the right level to me. And consider the cost of a chromebook for a few years vs. the cost of feeding a child. More money gets spent on food than the cost of a chromebook, it's just that the food funding comes from multiple sources so you might not have considered the total cost. It's not like they are handing out brand new MacBooks every single year, chromebooks are about the lowest cost option for schools to have guaranteed technology access for students.