This is an essay I wrote against IXL

The Truth About IXL
 
 If you are a teacher or maybe even a parent you may think that IXL is a great app for learning, helps many children worldwide, and is a great app. If you think that you are way off. Many students and parents have both agreed that IXL is stressful, focuses too much on memorization, and takes information from students. If teachers continue to force children to use IXL children will suffer consequences in the future and while they use it.
 To start, I know from personal experience and from reading many reviews that IXL is very stressful. The smartscore system punishes children for getting questions wrong and can leave children feeling frustrated and upset when they’re having trouble with a skill. Teachers and parents have seen children enduring significant anxiety and amounts of stress while using IXL. Many children even cry when doing IXL. Learning programs shouldn’t stress children out or cause anxiety. 
 Also, IXL focuses on memorization rather than understanding of the skill they are learning. It relies heavily on repetition and drills which teaches students that all that matters is getting the question correct rather than understanding the skill. Some students simply memorize the answers to the questions because of this and don’t actually understand the skill. IXL’s videos are also unhelpful and often use different methods than what is taught in schools. IXL is not helping students understand skills they are learning.
 Finally, while IXL is not universally banned it is facing a lawsuit claiming that IXL collects data on students and then sells it to third party companies. As if that isn’t bad enough IXL did this without parental consent. This violates the Federal Wiretap Act and other state laws. This lawsuit has raised concerns about the privacy of children using IXL. If your child does IXL they could be collecting information on them right now. Do you really want your child to be using a program that collects and monetizes data on students?
 Many people argue that IXL is a good learning app, but I strongly disagree. While it does help kids learn sometimes, it causes problems that are much bigger problems than understanding unfair questions. Overall, IXL causes stress, focuses on the wrong things, and is facing a lawsuit. IXL doesn’t help children learn and should be banned.

IXL hurts kids. DO WE WANT TO HURT KIDS? NO! Share this petition with your friends and family!

Please sign this petition before it hurts others. And don’t just sign this petition. Sign as many as you can find! LET’S BURN IXL!