What I find engaging, and I’m very curious about how you view this, Brian, as someone who has children, is that the guides of these people who were brought in were actually in the room with the students, helping them with any technological glitches or dealing with anything that was going on in the real world. While some had experience as educators, some didn’t, and more, Alpha often focused on people without a teaching background and instead on those pursuing entrepreneurship, because nothing encourages early childhood education like Series A funding. I’m very confused as to what this is all about.
Brian Barrett: It seems reductive, right? It assumes that grades matter in school, grades count in numbers, and only coding matters. When, of course, school is about learning how to interact with people, it is as much a social issue as it is a numbers issue. I’m also thinking about how to quantify and then define art activities, finger painting, and all the other things that are good for social development, good for mental development, that are not narrow to numbers. And I just don’t think it’s part of calculus, which is a shame.
Leah Feiger: We haven’t even gotten to WIRED’s main focus: surveillance. These children are being watched.
Brian Barrett: Yes. There was a report that our reporter Todd had discovered that eye-tracking software was involved. Again, I’m sure for some parents this is a great solution, and again at Alpha School, many parents say, “Yes, this is what we want.” They have a lot of great reviews, a lot of great press. What we found in Brownsville was not that.
Leah Feiger: And as a final monitoring anecdote: there is one report that Todd shared that really scared me in the case of a student who received a notification at home that she had been flagged by the Alpha system for anti-patterning or distracting while she was doing her homework. It turns out that, according to her, the Alpha system sent a video of her in her pajamas, taken from the computer’s webcam where she was talking to her younger sister. He’s home again. It doesn’t end when they leave the classroom. This is something more. And I’m sure it’s the case that everyone, oh, collects data. This is a total experience. This is still terrifying to me.