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The Phone, the Brain, & the Classroom: Why Learning isn’t Sticking
- sherrirochel
- Sep 28
- 3 min read
Remedial college courses are rising fast - but the real story is inside the brain.
Earlier this week, I read an EdWeek article that hit me like a ton of bricks:
👉 Between 2015 and 2019, the number of first-year undergraduate students placed in remedial math courses more than doubled.
ELA (English Language Arts) numbers jumped too.
This isn’t just a statistic. It’s a flashing red warning light. 🚨
And when I shared it on social media, the debate took off:
Is this the parents’ fault?
Are teachers dropping the ball?
Is it the system? The standards?
My answer? It’s complicated. And it’s time we actually talk about it.
🏫 Education Today Isn’t What It Used to Be
Let’s be honest — school in 2025 looks nothing like school in 1995 (or even 2015).
Technology wasn’t a factor when most parents were in school. We weren’t taught how to use it as a tool.
Teachers were rarely trained to integrate tech effectively or manage its distraction power.
And since COVID, students are asking tougher questions than ever:
Why do I need to be here? What am I actually learning? What’s the point?
If we don’t acknowledge this shift, we’ll continue to treat symptoms instead of the disease.
🧠 The Brain Chemistry Shift No One Talks About
Here’s where it gets fascinating (and a little scary).
When Gen Xers and Millennials were in school, our feel-good hormone (dopamine) came from the classroom:
Raise your hand.
Teacher calls on you.
You nail the answer.
Dopamine hit achieved. 🎉
That moment trained us to want to repeat the cycle: learn → respond → succeed → feel good.
But today’s students? They don’t have to wait for that hit. Their phones deliver it 24/7:
📱 The ding of a like
💬 The rush of a comment
🎮 The streak of a game
That instant gratification rewires motivation. The classroom just isn’t their primary dopamine source anymore.
🕒 Short-Term vs. Long-Term: Where Learning Gets Lost
Here’s the piece most people miss: Students are struggling to move knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory.
Learning doesn't file itself.
Traditionally, this happened when:
Homework reinforced the day’s lessons.
After-school chats with parents helped “unpack” the day.
Quiet downtime let the brain file information into long-term storage.
But now?
The second class ends, kids grab their phones. The flood begins: notifications, updates, memes, messages.
That inundation overwrites whatever they just learned before the brain has a chance to process it.
And this — more than any finger-pointing about standards or teachers — is why so many students are showing up to college unprepared.
💡 So Where Do We Go From Here?
This isn’t about blame. It’s about rethinking the system.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be unpacking these issues one by one as I prepare for my national education reform panels (both virtual and in-person).
Because reform has to be:
✔️ Actionable
✔️ Equitable
✔️ Affordable
Especially now, when teachers are spending more of their own money than ever just to keep classrooms running.
✨ Your Turn: Let’s Talk
I don’t want this to be a one-way conversation. I want your voice in this:
Parents → What do you see at home?
Teachers → What works (or doesn’t) in your classroom?
Students → What motivates you to learn?
Legislators & leaders → What’s blocking real reform?
📩 Drop a comment, message me, or join the conversation in my Education Reform Summits.
Together, we can move past the finger-pointing and start building solutions that actually stick.
🔗 Ready to dive deeper?
Remedial courses are just the first warning sign.
The bigger story is how learning is — or isn’t — sticking in classrooms today.
This blog is the starting point of a deeper series on what’s broken, what’s possible, and what comes next.
👉 Be the first to know when new posts and panel dates drop:
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