In a video on TikTok that had over one million views yesterday, a 26-year-old high school English teacher in the United States, using straightforward and indignant language, announced that she was resigning from her teaching position and severely criticized an entire generation of young Americans who, in her view, had been "devoured and ruined by technology." 

"I have decided to leave the education world. I am resigning. Friday is my last day," said Hannah Maria, a 10th-grade teacher. "After Friday, this classroom no longer belongs to me."

In a nine-and-a-half-minute video, Hannah used her lesson preparation time to talk to the camera, saying that students in today's classrooms are no longer eager to learn, but are addicted to TikTok, video games, and even copy homework through AI tools such as ChatGPT.

"I really, really want to say...technology is destroying education," she said with a tired look on her face.

Hannah teaches in a school district where every student in grades 6 through 12 has an iPad. However, in her view, these devices have not brought help, but have become a burden that crushes the quality of American education.

"These children don't know how to read at all," she said bluntly, "because they are used to letting machines read to them and clicking buttons to have the system read aloud. Their attention span is getting worse and worse, and everything requires high stimulation. They can watch more than a dozen short videos in a row."

She went on to describe the miserable situation in today's classroom: students are unwilling to write even a paragraph, and will get angry if they are asked to write homework by hand. They just want to use iPads to "type" - not to improve efficiency, but to facilitate copying and pasting or directly using AI to do it for them.

“They only want to use technology for entertainment, not for learning,” she lamented.

But she believes student performance is just the tip of the iceberg. What worries her even more is that the screen generation is becoming “disinterested and irresponsible.”

"They don't care about the world. They don't care how to write a resume or a cover letter. They think that the device in their hands can support them for a lifetime."

“I really don’t have high hopes for a lot of the kids I teach.” She admits that she has met some smart kids, but she firmly believes that most students fall because “the previous generation failed them”—letting basic reading and writing skills replaced by technological illusions.

"In my day, 'watching a movie' was a reward. Now they say they want to watch a movie, but they actually mean scrolling on their phone and chatting while playing a video in the background."

She said that if it is a movie appreciation class, "only a handful" of students in the class can watch it seriously.

Hannah’s “solution” was radical—a total ban on personal technology in schools.

“I think technology needs to be taken out of kids’ hands until they go to college,” she said. “You can call me old-school, but I just ask you to look at test scores, look at literacy rates, look at the gap over the years from no technology to high reliance on technology.”

“If you can’t read and don’t want to read – you’ll never have a truly personal perspective, and you’ll never understand why law and government matter, and you’ll never understand what the right to vote means.”

She called on education policymakers — including school district boards and superintendents of education — to look back at the data and look at declining student achievement, literacy and reliance on technology.

"There's nothing wrong with spending your budget on textbooks, exercise books and paper materials," she stressed. "It may take 20 years to fix it, but you have to start reversing the trend now."

In fact, Hannah did not originally plan to become a teacher. She joined the teaching force three years ago due to the influence of her family's education tradition and appreciates the daily routine of school and the opportunity to get along with teenagers.

She has taught computer skills and digital arts and was once a technophile but now believes technology is destroying entire young people's systems.

"The biggest reason why I wanted to leave at first was the salary," she said frankly, "but if the overall experience was better, I might be able to bite the bullet and stick to it."

But the reality completely broke her heart. "It's really hard for this generation of students. I admit I can't hold on. To those new teachers who are still hanging on, I admire you. May God bless you. I really wish I could be stronger."

Many netizens left messages supporting Hannah’s views:

"Let students return to the computer classroom to learn technology and drive Chromebooks out of the classroom!"

"I am Gen Z. After taking online classes at home during the COVID-19 years, I feel like I have become stupid. I have lost my concentration and even forgotten how to study."

"The students I teach are too lazy to use Google now. AI can tell them the answer directly, and it's done with just a click of the mouse."

"I just started using AI last year. If I had this thing in high school, I probably wouldn't know anything now."

“When I was a kid, the last day of term was like Christmas – the teacher would give me back all the electronics she had confiscated all year, haha!”

"I spent several years teaching in one of the worst neighborhoods in Dallas and couldn't agree more with you! The stories I can tell will absolutely shock people."

"This lady is so right. I've seen it with my own eyes. The only thing I would like to add is - since when did mothers stop teaching their children to read?"

After the video went viral, Hannah posted a follow-up video, explaining that she still respected her school colleagues, but she also said: "I have chosen this path and now I will follow it to the end."