That said, my initial response when I read "When you are standing in front of them trying to teach, they’re vacant" was, "back in my day, we had to do that without the benefits of smartphones." The whole article struck me as the type of ramblings we have heard from educators for millenia.
Think Gameboy, or Sony Watchman w/ MTV.
Well, no school subject could have competed with that. Certainly not those that require a bit of work.
A significant confounding factor is the lack of awareness of the productive forces. The average suburban school kid has relatively little idea of how the world works and what workers actually do, and why, in part due to a culture of corporate secrecy.
"No phones in school" can be a stopgap but really produces a dead end arms-race situation, even if it worked for a time. The only solution is to make school genuinely interesting and relevant. Until institutionalized education is no longer interesting and relevant on the face of it.
Perhaps the problem is in part kids aren't economically 'exploited' enough so they have basically nill solidifying the utility of their schooling.
What workers actually do is easy to find out. The problem is rather: for quite a lot of jobs, as a school kid, you'd rather come to the conclusion that if this is what life is about, you should rather commit suicide as soon as possible.
Similarly, understanding how the world works, gives you an insane hate for a lot of people (i.e. makes you a misanthropist). Beginning from politicians, ending with basically everybody (you get to understand that the (irrational and clearly not in their long-term self-interest) behaviour of many people around you causes perverse incentives for the markets).
Are these really the lessons that children should get?
Yes, I am very black-pilld.
Veggies prepared well is great. So is education. Most of public school is simply mass market soggy, saltless, microwave veggie plates.