During the course of the school day, our emphasis is NOT on placing every student in front of a screen, or sending them home with the latest in tablet technology.  And, we are very intentional about this.  At SCA, we are purposefully “low tech.”  Why?  For several reasons.

One, today’s students are the Digital Generation.  Their lives are already interwoven with technology at every turn.  Teens carry a mini-computer – their smart phone – with them throughout their day. They connect with each other via snapchat, tweet, text, tiktok, or other apps.  Younger elementary students are often on tablets or iPads, watch youtube videos on a computer screen or TV, and see the adults around them interacting all day with their phones.  In short, our teens especially, but all of our children, live in a digital world.

Two, when these students are together “IRL” in real life – they need to take advantage of that opportunity.  At SCA, we want to connect them in more important ways – with each other, in real interaction.  Because our students spend just 30 hours each week with their classmates at SCA, our focus is not on providing technology during that time. The other 138 hours of their week include plenty of technology.  We provide an alternative to that, in purposely low-tech classrooms that are filled instead with group interaction, group projects, discussions, debates.  Students talk to each other, with each other, and team up to meet objectives.

Three, IRL (“in real life”) is more than a text abbreviation.  It is an important component of our children’s lives.  They need to experience community.  They need to learn social skills “IRL.”  They need more human interaction, less screen time.  At SCA, we are purposeful about providing community learning, through an interactive environment – students interacting with each other, and not technology.