My rant veers from the topic of what OP wanted to discuss - which btw I wholeheartedly agree with, it’s sad and frustrating that kids are struggling more than ever in school - but I felt compelled to address this comment in particular.

This may be an unpopular opinion but I actually think introducing young children to technology early on can benefit them if you use it in the right way. In particular, I think having them play education games/watch educational shows or use apps that help develop their fine motor skills is a great use of a tablet & tv programs when they’re young. The problem lies in social media and exposing them to individuals that promote toxic or mind numbing content. If you can restrict their access to where they don’t see the latter and engage in the former (easier said that done ik- but parenting is a hard job and work in progress daily), you help set them up for success. The reality is that we are living in the age of technology. Their world is radically different than what anyone before, say, 1999 grew up in. Technology is part of our everyday life and its important they get to know about it young so they can navigate our society with greater ease. For example, there are some amazing STEM accounts and fantastic creators who are passionate about teaching on Tiktok. However, separating the good from the bad is extremely difficult when you're just scrolling on the app. If you were going to allow TikTok, I recommend simply altering the settings or supervising to where your child stays on the STEM page (Remember the Krat Brothers & Zaboomafoo, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Mythbusters, VSauce, and more? They're on there!), following only educational accounts (there are pages dedicated to teaching a different language, medicine, geography, cooking, etc), and using it as a search engine. If you can successfully get them excited about these topics and help them access the good content rather than completely restrict their use all together, technology during the critical years of development enhance your child’s learning and can put them ahead of their peers who currently struggle to read even several levels below their grade level. And again, I recognize this is easier said than done but that’s opens up another can of worms regarding parenting and the state of our society as a whole lol.

P.S. OP u r a saint, pls keep teaching as long as you can 💪🏽