Peter Isackson

Earlier this month, I launched a conversation with Kimi concerning educational technology with this assertion: “No one today would deny that education is in crisis.” We began by comparing Finland’s educational methodology with that of other Western nations and by citing my own personal experience in the field as a creator, producer and publisher of edtech tools and content.

One of the most famous quotes from the New Testament is St. Paul’s condemnation of something the Greeks called φιλαργυρία. Most English translations require three words to translate the single compound Greek term: “love of money.” Writing in Greek, Paul cited philargyria — literally, “love of silver” — as the “root of all evils” (1 Timothy 6:10).

My continuing conversation with Kimi about the state of education in the digital age was sparked by the startling results of a serious Finnish study that compared the performance of students who had worked with digital devices and spent time on screens with others who had no access to edtech. It turned out that, contrary to received wisdom often repeated in our media, screentime had not destroyed the brains of those who had been learning with the demonic devices.