Some Schools Back Off Wi-Fi Laptop Learning Too expensive, time consuming, and troublesome... Friday May 04 2007 14:07 EDT Four years ago we mentioned a push to bring Wi-Fi to the classroom and, in some cases, offer students their own laptops. Several schools went so far as to eliminate textbooks -- students learning solely via laptop and broadband. The New York Times indicates that many schools, seeing no evidence that the shift expedites learning, are giving up on the programs: "The students at Liverpool High have used their school-issued laptops to exchange answers on tests, download pornography and hack into local businesses. When the school tightened its network security, a 10th grader not only found a way around it but also posted step-by-step instructions on the Web for others to follow (which they did)." The schools are getting tired of network congestion and security, broken laptops and the overall cost of the programs. |
b10010011Whats a Posting tag? join:2004-09-07 united state |
It was a bad idea to start withNothing against technology, but really this was a huge waste of money. | |
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Re: It was a bad idea to start withYeah, you cant do anything for little punks anymore. They have no respect for adults or for anything you buy them.
Back in my day, it only took one good beatin, and I never did anything wrong after that.
I hope this school learned its lesson. | |
| | | MaxoYour tax dollars at work. Premium Member join:2002-11-04 Tallahassee, FL 1 edit |
Maxo
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:00 pm
Re: It was a bad idea to start withsaid by LSUTiger Vet:Back in my day, it only took one good beatin, and I never did anything wrong after that. While totally unrelated, I don't beat my kids and they are some of the best behaved kids at their school. My neighbor in Orlando did though, his kid was always in trouble. Edit: And they also have their own PC in their bedroom. The educational games have really been great for them. | |
| | | | morboComplete Your Transaction join:2002-01-22 00000 |
morbo
Member
2007-May-4 2:30 pm
Re: It was a bad idea to start withsaid by Maxo:While totally unrelated, I don't beat my kids and they are some of the best behaved kids at their school. well behaved in school, maybe, or as far as you know. when daddy ain't lookin' guess who's lighting the homeless on fire and smoking crack? YOUR KIDS! | |
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to LSUTiger Vet
I agree about kids today not having respect for rules or adults. How could you expect them to do this when their role models are likes of Paris Hilton? Geesh. Rich, pretty (yeah right), famous (for what?)....do whatever you want and society will forgive you. | |
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| MaxoYour tax dollars at work. Premium Member join:2002-11-04 Tallahassee, FL |
to b10010011
I agree. This would have to of been much better thought out before hand. A domain server, a tight firewall, and tracking software would be crucial to this to ensure that all abuses could be either stopped or tracked. I heard of one school that abandoned the program because too many laptops where "lost." I also don't think that the integrated laptops would really help learning by that much. It would only help them once they graduate and get a job that utilizes computers heavily. Being moderately computer literate really helps out in todays market place. Just the ability to correctly use Office products can make you an asset to your employer. | |
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to b10010011
The students at Liverpool High have used their school-issued laptops to exchange answers on tests...gosh, do we not call this teamwork afterall, the real test is when they get out of school & have to do it on their own...
download pornography...now, this is just totally uncalled for, can't they wait to get home & watch the parents do it...
hack into local businesses so they can weed out the old way of doing business & get real .
When the school tightened its network security, a 10th grader not only found a way around it but also posted step-by-step instructions on the Web for others to follow (which they did)."
i suggest you put that 10th grader to work so he or she can tighten its network security & yes, publish it for the rest of the students so they can learn something...
The schools are getting tired of network congestion and security
hmmm, maybe this is a hint to update the network & security...
broken laptops and the overall cost of the programs
i would break the laptop as well if i had to use it on a worthless network. | |
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MysticGogetaThe Robot Devil Premium Member join:2005-03-14 Katy, TX |
I have something similar at my schoolMost of us just play and surf the internet to be honest I wish we were able to use it in more classes but they just can't impliment it in most of the class room assignments. We wont have them next year I'm kinda glad because it sucks taking it every but but sad since its pretty fun haveing a laptop to play with at home. | |
| fcisler Premium Member join:2004-06-14 Riverhead, NY |
fcisler
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:00 pm
Laptop in highschool?Ohhhh...the damage i could have done with a laptop in school.... Back when....i used to have access into the grade system. Yeah.... They tried to go after me once for helping out (long story short - they used RIS, and we had many new PC's. I started the process to help the lab teacher, and they came after me). After i showed the superintendent how easy it was for me to get into the grading system, and shouldn't the techs be worrying about that - they backed off me. Bah...give em laptops and textbooks. Worst we used to do with textbooks was throw 'em out the windows....or plug the toilets | |
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FIREtheBUMS
Anon
2007-May-4 1:04 pm
Like fugging DUH !Any school district that would do away with text books in this day and age is not qualified to be teaching students IMNHO. Only a damn fool would think you can use a laptop to replace all text books.
That is enough to explain why the school was unable to secure their network and prevent kids from downloading porn, sharing answers, etc.
This is a real world example of what is wrong with the school systems in America - braindead school administrators with unrealistic expectations of technology.
SOS, DD. | |
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Re: Like fugging DUH !well hold on, you make it sound that there are no advantages to a laptop in high school. Of course the potential for abuse is there, but you have to look at the other side as well. In my county they were contemplating to implement this idea but since I think they have scrapped it, I don't know.
A great idea was to have the laptops and store the textbooks on usb flash drives. I think that's a pretty good idea: instead of having poor and damaged books that cost a lot of money, have a cheap flash drive with a PDF file of the text book. Saves on books and buying new editions, and is cheap to replace. | |
| | | Jwobot join:2002-08-14 Sterling Heights, MI |
Jwobot
Member
2007-May-4 1:47 pm
Re: Like fugging DUH !Also saves the heavy load of books that kids carry in their backpack. | |
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| fcisler Premium Member join:2004-06-14 Riverhead, NY |
to FIREtheBUMS
They did away with a textbook.....they didn't say the content.
I remember in senior year - two textbooks I received had a piece of paper in the inside "Take this code and go to (url here) to download a PDF of this textbook!" along with a code on it.
If the content is the same.....why not use a laptop?
If the school cannot lock down the PC's....well....that's another story.
In my building there are 200+ PC's set aside for complete public use. They are locked down so tight that in the 3+ years - there has not been one incident where someone was able to breech security. And yes - I know this. Random PC's are sporadically monitored and one of the first I setup, I just took out of service. The MD5 checksums on each of the PC's were IDENTICAL (excluding documents and settings, as a couple of the programs write cache files there - but thats it). I've seen people try and get in...but they give up.
Then again - if you looked at them, you would not be able to easily tell that the OS was windows. | |
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Re: Like fugging DUH !said by fcisler:If the school cannot lock down the PC's....well....that's another story. some school software does not work with locked down pcs. | |
| | | NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny Yours MVM join:2001-08-03 Grand Rapids, MI |
to fcisler
said by fcisler:They did away with a textbook.....they didn't say the content. I remember in senior year - two textbooks I received had a piece of paper in the inside "Take this code and go to (url here) to download a PDF of this textbook!" along with a code on it. If the content is the same.....why not use a laptop? If the school cannot lock down the PC's....well....that's another story. In my building there are 200+ PC's set aside for complete public use. They are locked down so tight that in the 3+ years - there has not been one incident where someone was able to breech security. And yes - I know this. Random PC's are sporadically monitored and one of the first I setup, I just took out of service. The MD5 checksums on each of the PC's were IDENTICAL (excluding documents and settings, as a couple of the programs write cache files there - but thats it). I've seen people try and get in...but they give up. Then again - if you looked at them, you would not be able to easily tell that the OS was windows. The difference is the level of skill in the IT department. A lot of public school districts just don't have the money to hire in a good IT person to lock the systems down, regulate them, clean them, and perform preventative maintenance on them. Laptops require a lot more maintenance than a textbook does and last time I checked, textbooks are cheaper to make. As a techie, the idea of laptops for all students sounds great. However, as a network and systems admin, it is a nightmare to implement a system like that. One thing is for certain, if I had a child, they would have a laptop when they got into middle/high school. | |
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Some Schools Back Off Wi-Fi Laptop LearningMaybe this is for the better...I have recently read that statistics are showing that students are getting better test scores by learning the old fashioned way, by using chalk boards, paper, and books. | |
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alwaystheanonguy
Anon
2007-May-5 10:09 pm
Re: Some Schools Back Off Wi-Fi Laptop Learningsaid by pinot noir6:Maybe this is for the better...I have recently read that statistics are showing that students are getting better test scores by learning the old fashioned way, by using chalk boards, paper, and books. I totally agree with you here except for the chalk board issue. Chalk boards are very poor writing surfaces for the frequency that they are used. White boards on the other hand are the way to go since they are very easy to clean and offer a nice contrast for easy reading. Did I mention that white board markers NEVER make that high pitched screech? | |
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Cheap PDA's will doNo need to waste money on laptops. All that electricity too. Educators think these kids will behave differently at school then at home with computer usage? They'll just go on MySpace all day at school just like at home. I have yet to see a kid do real school work on a PC. Everytime I see my family members kids in front of a computer, they're playing Runscrape, blogging or playing games. Kids these days, bunch of sissies. Kids around here don't even have to do homework ???? » www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/a ··· NM21.DTLAfter years of teachers piling it on, there's a new movement to ... Abolish homework | |
| | TzaleProud Libertarian Conservative Premium Member join:2004-01-06 NYC Metro
1 recommendation |
Tzale
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:44 pm
Re: Cheap PDA's will dosaid by ninjatutle:No need to waste money on laptops. All that electricity too. Educators think these kids will behave differently at school then at home with computer usage? They'll just go on MySpace all day at school just like at home. I have yet to see a kid do real school work on a PC. Everytime I see my family members kids in front of a computer, they're playing Runscrape, blogging or playing games. Kids these days, bunch of sissies. Kids around here don't even have to do homework ???? » www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/a ··· NM21.DTLAfter years of teachers piling it on, there's a new movement to ... Abolish homework Homework is useless... It does NOTHING for most classes... Pay attention in school, and you'll have no problem getting A's in classes. That's what I did.. The reason why laptops are a waste of time is because they are implementing this in HIGH SCHOOL... If you want to implement this program, you need to implement it in 1st grade... Make kids grow up with it, don't force it on them after 9 years of using textbooks. That just isn't going to work. If you make the young kids use it now, then 9 years from now you can implement it in High Schools. Right now computers = fun, textbooks = work. If you grow up with computers = work, you will respect it. -Tzale | |
| | | PhoenixAZGet A Mac Premium Member join:2004-01-04 Phoenix, AZ |
Re: Cheap PDA's will doWell said! | |
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Tokidoki Premium Member join:2002-08-26 South Richmond Hill, NY |
Tokidoki
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:15 pm
Laptop ProgramHere in NYC back when I was in Middle School, a few classes were enrolled in a cool program with IBM. From 6th grade till graduation, I had an IBM Thinkpad that was really fun. No one in the program behaved badly and we learned alot. We were even able to get internet for the school sponsored by Columbia University.
We learned Excel, Word, had Lego Mindstorms in the classroom as well and eventually Wi-FI. Those students in the article dont know what they are missing! | |
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Hey the kids are learning on their own!Now that's innovation! | |
| TzaleProud Libertarian Conservative Premium Member join:2004-01-06 NYC Metro 2 edits |
Tzale
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:36 pm
Laptops in SchoolYou want to know the truth? Textbooks are where it is at... Laptops for each student in High School is a waste of money IMHO... I really can't see any use for them over textbooks and paper/pen. If you need a computer, computer labs make much more sense... Now as for college, that is totally different and laptops/computers make much more sense at that level. This is mainly because people at college WANT to be there, they aren't FORCED to be there... That makes a major difference in terms of respect. Also, the problem with giving laptops to High Schoolers is that for 9 years they only used textbooks and computer labs, trying to get a High Schooler to use a laptop for work is like asking someone to drive a Ferrari and not speed. Implement this in the first grade and let them grow up with it, don't force it on them at one point in time.
-Tzale | |
| | PhoenixAZGet A Mac Premium Member join:2004-01-04 Phoenix, AZ |
Re: Laptops in SchoolHowever, I do find it easier to research things on a computer than out of a book, never underestimate the power of Command + F (Control F for Windows users). | |
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to Tzale
I think laptop based programs should only be in private schools, or selective enrollment public school (no need to waste money on future drug dealers, and students who will pawn them for drugs). I wish I had a laptop base curriculum in HS. Control-F is great, also word processing is great (being able to add and remove text anywhere you want, not worrying about totally turning paper into chicken scratch), also Tablet PCs I think would be better in a classroom, they truly replace paper, Ive even done handwritten math HW on them, and printed it out. Its the next generation paper. Also in my University, every semester Im running into more and more professors who are putting "technology policy"s into their syllabuses, most including lines "if its open, a absence will be recorded for the day", more and more of them are banning laptops, its sad, but for one of the Profs, my friend had her last semester, and he claims he never looked up once from his laptop :D I have a feeling that laptop learning anywhere except at home, will die very soon, simply because of massive irresponsibility and social networking, and anime watching. Its a sad day for nerds. But ultimatly what I think is, if your students are refusing to follow, let them fail, their paying money (Uni enviroment), sure parents may bitch, but ultimatly, if a person has no drive, why fool them? This approach wont really work in public HSes due to the amount of garbage they have to deal with, but in selective enrollment HSes its fine I guess. | |
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Turbocpe
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:51 pm
Students not Responsible for the laptop?Back in the day when I went to school, we were responsible for the textbooks. The textbooks were used, and numbered. At the start of the school year, the teachers would hand out textbooks that were inspected on the spot. Any abnormal defect was noted at the time.
At the end of the school year, when handing in the textbooks, they were inspected again. If there was abnormal wear or anything that wasn't noted when the textbook was given to you at the start of the school year, you was responsible for the cost.
I realize laptops are expensive, so are textbooks. But are students charged for lost or damaged laptops like we were charged for abused textbooks? | |
| | TzaleProud Libertarian Conservative Premium Member join:2004-01-06 NYC Metro |
Tzale
Premium Member
2007-May-4 8:02 pm
Re: Students not Responsible for the laptop?said by Turbocpe:Back in the day when I went to school, we were responsible for the textbooks. The textbooks were used, and numbered. At the start of the school year, the teachers would hand out textbooks that were inspected on the spot. Any abnormal defect was noted at the time. At the end of the school year, when handing in the textbooks, they were inspected again. If there was abnormal wear or anything that wasn't noted when the textbook was given to you at the start of the school year, you was responsible for the cost. I realize laptops are expensive, so are textbooks. But are students charged for lost or damaged laptops like we were charged for abused textbooks? I don't know why you think students are responsible for textbooks today... As far as I know every textbook issued is inspected at the end of the year today... -Tzale | |
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Turbocpe
Premium Member
2007-May-4 8:28 pm
Re: Students not Responsible for the laptop?said by Tzale:said by Turbocpe:Back in the day when I went to school, we were responsible for the textbooks. The textbooks were used, and numbered. At the start of the school year, the teachers would hand out textbooks that were inspected on the spot. Any abnormal defect was noted at the time. At the end of the school year, when handing in the textbooks, they were inspected again. If there was abnormal wear or anything that wasn't noted when the textbook was given to you at the start of the school year, you was responsible for the cost. I realize laptops are expensive, so are textbooks. But are students charged for lost or damaged laptops like we were charged for abused textbooks? I don't know why you think students are responsible for textbooks today... As far as I know every textbook issued is inspected at the end of the year today... -Tzale Probably because it's been a long time since I, or any of my family, have been in school. That's why I started off with a statement such as "back in the day when I went to school". | |
| | | | TzaleProud Libertarian Conservative Premium Member join:2004-01-06 NYC Metro |
Tzale
Premium Member
2007-May-5 12:45 pm
Re: Students not Responsible for the laptop?said by Turbocpe:said by Tzale:said by Turbocpe:Back in the day when I went to school, we were responsible for the textbooks. The textbooks were used, and numbered. At the start of the school year, the teachers would hand out textbooks that were inspected on the spot. Any abnormal defect was noted at the time. At the end of the school year, when handing in the textbooks, they were inspected again. If there was abnormal wear or anything that wasn't noted when the textbook was given to you at the start of the school year, you was responsible for the cost. I realize laptops are expensive, so are textbooks. But are students charged for lost or damaged laptops like we were charged for abused textbooks? I don't know why you think students are responsible for textbooks today... As far as I know every textbook issued is inspected at the end of the year today... -Tzale Probably because it's been a long time since I, or any of my family, have been in school. That's why I started off with a statement such as "back in the day when I went to school". Well I am not here to disect your posts, so try to make yourself clearer next time and don't make it sound like schools don't do that anymore. | |
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Turbocpe
Premium Member
2007-May-5 1:01 pm
Re: Students not Responsible for the laptop?said by Tzale:Well I am not here to disect your posts, so try to make yourself clearer next time and don't make it sound like schools don't do that anymore. Well, I'm not here to please you. Next time, please don't assume. I asked a question and made a statement. Frankly, it's my choice to make it sound anyway I wish. Thank-you. | |
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to Tzale
said by Tzale:I don't know why you think students are responsible for textbooks today... As far as I know every textbook issued is inspected at the end of the year today... -Tzale That makes no sense, unless the school doesn't let students take home textbooks (studyhall based school). | |
| | | | TzaleProud Libertarian Conservative Premium Member join:2004-01-06 NYC Metro |
Tzale
Premium Member
2007-May-5 12:47 pm
Re: Students not Responsible for the laptop?said by patcat88:said by Tzale:I don't know why you think students are responsible for textbooks today... As far as I know every textbook issued is inspected at the end of the year today... -Tzale That makes no sense, unless the school doesn't let students take home textbooks (studyhall based school). I forgot to put are NOT responsible... They are completely responsible for them... Some classes hand out a book for home and one for in class / to carry around. Many don't even hand out books anymore and have moved to a teacher generated page or two with information, problems and binder holes. This is the preferred method of many math teachers since they can go as fast / slow as they need to make sure the information is taught. -Tzale | |
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POBRes Firma Mitescere Nescit Premium Member join:2003-02-13 Stepford, CA |
POB
Premium Member
2007-May-4 1:51 pm
What GeniusI tend to agree with the Luddites albeit for different reasons. First of all, offering grade school students laptops would have been a good idea provided that the school was going to babysit these students and otherwise ensure that the students were using the laptop for what it was meant to be used for. That would have meant locking down the laptop with all the appropriate nanny software and/or IPSEC to make sure Johnny and Suzy weren't on social networking sites or otherwise engaging in behavior that the the laptop was not intended for.
What they did, instead, was issue laptops arbitrarily and without any oversight and just assumed the kids would be good little students and do their homework. Right, because kids don't need supervision and putting them in contact with a computer ws going to somehow ensure they would become better students...
Unless the school board had some kind of agreement in place with the parents to supervise their children's work on the computer, they should have never spent the money on the equipment. It would have been put to better use by setting up a computer lab and hiring a competent part-time techie admin, instead. | |
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Mr Anon
Anon
2007-May-4 2:31 pm
Welcome to my world.We don't have laptops for each child, heck we barely have a computer for every child and at that we hardly have computers that aren't over 7+ years old. I still have headaches all day working with these kids.
The problem is that it wasnt thought through as it isn't most places. Teachers could keep an eye on what the kids are doing but unless the teacher monitors the students screens they can't tell. Secondly these students should be heavily locked down as in any situation don't allow them access to certain programs and areas of the computer period! Lastly they need to be locked down on the interent, not just a firewall but a content filter with heavy regulation. I run the content filter for my district and I look at it everyday, if I had better reporting I'd look at it twice daily. However my point is just because you change the medium doesn't mean the old problems will go away. | |
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MLTIThe whole state of Maine(7+ Graders) has laptops for kids. Also all Maine schools have a T1, provided by the state, and there is wifi in every room. I am currently a student at one of the participating schools. If you have any questions about this just reply. » www.maine.gov/mlti/ | |
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annonbombber991
Anon
2007-May-4 3:18 pm
laptops are useless in classroomsI had a bunch of idiots for teachers at my school. They had a hard enough time figuring out how to get the overhead focused or to get a video tape to play.
I remember dell gave the school a bunch of laptops and we only used them once or twice, but it was a big pain in the ass. It would take 20 minutes to pass them out to everyone, another 10 minutes before everyones laptop was up and running, and then it would take another 20 minutes to put them back up. The class period was only 120 minutes long, 50 minutes was wasted just on laptop maintenance. | |
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Re: laptops are useless in classroomssaid by annonbombber991 :
I had a bunch of idiots for teachers at my school. They had a hard enough time figuring out how to get the overhead focused or to get a video tape to play. Your school wasn't the only one. --Matt | |
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Re: laptops are useless in classroomsOr a "telecommunications" instructor... That can't use a smart board or a projector properly or realize why his dekstop didn't want to play a dvd. I've learned more reading here, HoFo and just googling stuff then what that waste of time taught me... | |
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What's the difference?What's the difference between a laptop and a notebook? I thought they were the same... | |
| | TzaleProud Libertarian Conservative Premium Member join:2004-01-06 NYC Metro |
Tzale
Premium Member
2007-May-4 8:14 pm
Re: What's the difference?said by TigerLord:What's the difference between a laptop and a notebook? I thought they were the same... In my mind, they are... I think "notebook" is the more "modern" way of saying laptop nowadays.. It just sounds more business like. Though I might be completely wrong, it might have something to do with a smaller form factor or something... Not sure. -Tzale | |
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PhoenixAZGet A Mac Premium Member join:2004-01-04 Phoenix, AZ 4 edits |
Health IssuesAt least health issues wasn't the reason When I saw the title, I immediately thought towards wi-fi is bad for your health Also, laptops believe it or not is still too new to try it in schools, give it another couple years. The teachers are not trained on how to teach etc. using this kind of method. Also, the problem is also society itself. What ever happened to teaching kids responsibility? If you lose the laptop, thats your own fault, you now have to pay for it. You are responsible for your own actions...sheesh what happened to that? The problem is not the laptop program, it's the discipline. Take a look at Cincinati Country Day school, their laptop program is working just fine...but that is because they had to pay for it themselves. How about instead of laptops, offer something more durable, such as the Alphasmart Dana, that machine runs PalmOS. Or even some Windows CE based devices, that you can drop and still work just fine. | |
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laptops in school...are a great idea. Giving high schoolers a laptop is a great way to introduce technology and it teaches them how to properly use and maintain one. Let's face it, our lives WILL revolve around computers and how "connected" we are to the rest of the world. The problem is, this idea has been implemented so poorly by school administrators and superintendents who really have no clue to what is going on, or have their own hidden agendas. Parents are always going to be parents, doing anything to protect their child from internet porn or w/e, but that's another serious roadblock. School boards in each county seldom have any clue either. The problem is a lack of leadership. That is why all these initiatives are failing. I bet if some of the people on this forum were to make some key decisions it would be a totally different outcome. The people here usually (but not always) have a clue to what is going on and how/why things will work or not. And in general, this is what's wrong with our schools today. There is no leadership or somebody with enough balls to challenge the public education system who make all the rules and put as much red tape as possible to hinder efforts of reform. Yea i'm done | |
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I'm kind of late...I'm kind of late to this discussion, but from my own experience, when I had a laptop (It was my "car" back in high school... I paid for half and my dad for the other half), I started a small trend of people using laptops (and by trend, I mean 3-5 others). I really did not pay that much attention in class. Fast forward to college and I barely touch my laptop, let alone take it to school (granted my cell phone has replaced parts of my laptop), but it was always a distraction in the past. Then again, it just depends on who is using it and in what context. | |
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