Local school district spends $100K+ on tablets for brats

I don't want to be overly specific since it's local bullshit, but I saw this in the paper last week. One of the local school districts has decided that they're going to buy a shitload of iPads/tablets for the students. I'd like to point out that the tablets alone are going to cost in the range of $89,000 and the insurance on the fucking things (for when students inevitably break/steal/lose them) is going to be around $32,000. So we're looking at a price tag of at least $120K, and not only that, the students will get to keep the tablets at the end of the year!

All I can say is WAT. Every fucking year, every fucking district pisses and moans about how broke they are and how the budget isn't big enough for a lot of things. Why don't they put that money toward things that are actually useful instead of spending it on iCrap? What child (or person of any age) NEEDS a tablet? We all functioned perfectly fine without them for a very long time, including kids.

If I had to guess, the district is doing this because some kids' families are too poor to afford to get them tablets and the district doesn't want those kids to get hurty fee-fees because their peers from more financially well-off families do have tablets. Do parents have any responsibilities anymore? Schools feed their brats at least twice a day, sometimes send them home with food for the weekend (the district I used to work for does this because 2/3 of the kids in the entire district are allegedly too poor to eat when the school's not feeding them), some do clothing drives for broke-ass kids, bus stops are no longer a thing because school buses will pick up each child individually at their front doors (even if kids live 15 feet apart) and now the district is going to waste six figures on completely unnecessary technology, not to keep in the library to borrow, but to GIVE to the students for FREE.

Won't be long now before parents just drop off their newborn infants at the nearest school and come back in 20 years to reclaim their grown kids. Schools do every other aspect of parents' jobs anymore, so why not take over entirely?

I will never understand how school districts can complain about being impoverished and continually request more money, yet spend it on crap like this.

Do students need to be literate in the use of technology? Yes, but that does not mean that they must be given individual devices. Music isn't taught by providing each student with their own instrument to take home, nor is physical education taught by giving each student a home gym. When typing was taught, each student didn't get their own typewriter for personal use.

It is completely reasonable for a school to set up a lab with various computing devices and to have dedicated classes training students to go beyond simply using the device, as they already no doubt know. It is ridiculous to spend a pile of money and to change the curriculum so that classes incorporate the use of electronic devices. This does not teach technical literacy, any more than watching TV teaches you electronics.

Seems that technology is about all they are literate in these days. They can't hold a conversation in person anymore. They can't add or subtract without the help of a device. Can't go for a walk or a ride in the car without their noses in their phones. Oh.... don't get me started.......

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yurble
Do students need to be literate in the use of technology? Yes, but that does not mean that they must be given individual devices. Music isn't taught by providing each student with their own instrument to take home, nor is physical education taught by giving each student a home gym. When typing was taught, each student didn't get their own typewriter for personal use.

When I was younger (back in the nineties) we did get taught how to use technology, but it was through a single computer in the classroom. Even when there were a few more computers a couple of years later, they were still only used on a part time basis, the rest of the time we just used paper and pencils.

We still were able to learn technology, on a fraction of the time that these kids now end on these things. Any more time spent and it's not a rounded education.

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starlady
Seems that technology is about all they are literate in these days. They can't hold a conversation in person anymore. They can't add or subtract without the help of a device. Can't go for a walk or a ride in the car without their noses in their phones. Oh.... don't get me started.......

That's what it is. They are becoming crippled. Maybe that's why the autism diagnosis stuff is skyrocketing, kids aren't made to hang with real life people anymore, just with a screen.

I think this is one of the effects of the pervasive notion of technological utopia that these wanks are pushing in schools, that everything can be done with a computer now and anything else is 'obsolete.'

Hey... wanna see how old I am? I just remembered the computer we had when I was in HS. There was ONE computer in the entire school. Each English class had access to it ONCE A WEEK. The computer was about 3 feet by 4 feet in size. You manually dialed a phone number and then put the receiver of the phone on a pad attached to the computer. It made those dial-up noises then entire time it was connected.
THERE WAS NO SCREEN!! You would ask a question with the keypad... and then wait (sometimes several minutes) for an answer printed out on paper.
The latest in technology in the early 70's! We never thought that one day we could hold this technology (and more) in the palms of our hands.

Thing is.. we knew how to converse with other human beeings, we learned the keyboard(no hunt and peck) and... we actually knew how to compose a full sentence (computer would not recognize anything like text-speak) and we also could write in cursive. All becoming lost arts.

Just a memory I had when reading this thread.......

All that screen time and most of the young adults I meet are not what I'd call technology literate. Sure, they know how to use stuff, and given a halfway decent API they can figure out enough of a new application to do basic stuff, but my mother is capable of that much. When it comes to an actual understanding of technology, most are clueless and, worse, incurious. Increasing their screen time in school isn't going to change that.

Lower test scores for students who use computers frequently in class.

http://hechingerreport.org/lower-test-scores-for-students-who-use-computers-frequently-in-school-31-country-study-finds/

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starlady
Hey... wanna see how old I am? I just remembered the computer we had when I was in HS. There was ONE computer in the entire school. Each English class had access to it ONCE A WEEK. The computer was about 3 feet by 4 feet in size. You manually dialed a phone number and then put the receiver of the phone on a pad attached to the computer. It made those dial-up noises then entire time it was connected.
THERE WAS NO SCREEN!! You would ask a question with the keypad... and then wait (sometimes several minutes) for an answer printed out on paper.
The latest in technology in the early 70's! We never thought that one day we could hold this technology (and more) in the palms of our hands.

Thing is.. we knew how to converse with other human beeings, we learned the keyboard(no hunt and peck) and... we actually knew how to compose a full sentence (computer would not recognize anything like text-speak) and we also could write in cursive. All becoming lost arts.

Just a memory I had when reading this thread.......

Sounds a lot like my early computing days in the late-1970s. In a classroom with 2 terminals which each consisted of the equivalent of a large electric typewriter, a rotary phone, a modem to insert the phone after hearing the dial-up "handshake" request, and a large box of continuous-feed paper under each terminal was what we used. The computer itself was located far away from our high school. Not all math classes had computer programming assignments as part of the curriculum, only the honors classes had them. This is the birth of my computer programming interest which became a big part of my 23-year career in the actuarial field.

By 1980 of 1981, I saw my first stand-alone PC in the school, a Commodore Pet. A friend of mine had an Atari PC which used cassette tape players to load programs. He later had disk drives with those larger, "floppy" 5-inch diskettes.

Even in the rural school where my parents live, they are now getting rid of three-year old technology because it's 'obsolete.' Does every kid have a tablet ? Most certainly not! A lot of their schooling is just that, schooling. They are forced to interact with one another and classes like shop and home ec are still options.

It's sad to see what the educational system is coming to. It should have the ability to learn some technology but at the same time, there are certain subject that should be kept to a paper and pencil. I remember growing up, in Elementary and even High School, we had a computer lab. We had computer class once a week where we would learn to type and use a computer. Then later on in high school, it was using word, excel and power point.It also included some minor web design where we had to create a simple page. The rest, I learned on my own in a process of discovery.

I didn't get my first computer until I was 16. Then it was the family computer so as my parents got interested, I had to share. It was also in a place in the house that wasn't private. Before that, if I wanted to use a computer, I had to go to someone's house or go to the library.


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They are having children for selfish and narcissistic reasons, or are simply irresponsible. Funny... Those are the terms often used to describe the CF

~Live, Laugh, Love~

LOL... I got my first computer when I was 40. It was some huge HP thing with black screen with yellow text.

What's the bet that these 'poor' shnookems actually have all the most recent Icrap and Samshouldn't-explode phones and tablets, chocking up $$$ in excess data bills. I've seen early primary (grade) school dumplings with more up to date tech than I have.

As Yurble has mentioned, having tech doesn't make them technically literate, but only capable in inputting data into a graphical API. Then again, it's not much more skill than using a television. However, schools have far stopped being about teaching kids and giving them an education, but rather just an overglorified Au Pair / creche / minding service.

There are some schools that don't even teach handwriting, based on the assumption that their students won't need it due to tech. That's a steaming pile of BS, and is criminally negligent, as handwriting is a much essential skill needed for real life. If that's what schooling has come to, then they should just get rid of it all together, as it's not educating the brats at all.

My mother bought me my first PC in 1997. I was in my 30's and it was an old floor model for Walmart. It was a heavy all-in-one affair that, I would learn later, was cheaper than dirt but Mom paid $900 for it. I proceeded to learn how to use a computer by myself using that clunker.

I taught myself the in and outs of Windows 95, 98, and XP, then switched to Linux.

This year I got a free smart phone, guy was tossing it in the trash and I said I'll take that! Saved myself $200, and the Boost Mobile phone and data plan was cheaper than my Jitterbug.

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Passive Aggressive
Master Of Anti-brat
Excuses!

Given how much we rely on technology and that it's everywhere, I definitely think students need to understand how to use computers and it'd be a major disservice to them to not at least show them the basics. I've never used a tablet, but from what I know, they're just little flat screens with internet access? To me, tablets sound more like a luxury item than a necessary one and I don't see why they would ever have a practical application in an educational setting.

I don't want to fucking hear about it when kids are playing games on the goddamn things instead of paying any attention in class. I remember being a kid and the last thing I ever wanted to do in class was listen to lessons and if I had a miniature computer to fuck with instead of taking notes, you can be damn straight I'd be playing games every single time. I guarantee kids or their parents will steal the tablets and sell them, but they'll never get banned from using them or getting more because peewins might get hurted.

@Cambion Yes, they are basically hand held computers with internet access. Of course, being in a school setting, you think that the would go through measures to block certain websites and downloading so kids can't put whatever they want on the tablets.

They are a luxury, hence why I don't have one. Also, I am a writer, so having a tablet wouldn't be beneficial to me as the keyboard is similar to the one on my phone and that drives me bonkers sometimes. Now one of the ones that can be a tablet that comes with a keyboard would be handy...but they cost way tooo much. My netbook recently crapped out on me but I am not in a huge hurry to replace it, going to consider my options first.

Luckily, I got my desktop up and running for now, so I can pay bills, etc. These days, kids know more about the technology than the parents do so, they have the upper hand. Once they get the tablets for free, who knows what they put on them and I bet that the majority of them end up broken within the first week of school ending. Yet, the next year at school they will get another newer model because they can't be left out.


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They are having children for selfish and narcissistic reasons, or are simply irresponsible. Funny... Those are the terms often used to describe the CF

~Live, Laugh, Love~

Seconding that tablets are not especially useful when it comes to doing serious work, although there are a few jobs that use them for on-site data entry. I have a tablet primarily for reading (I got it for a long hospital stay) but a computer is for working. I can't imagine doing any serious work on such a tiny screen, which doubles as the keyboard. The ergonomics must be horrible, assuming you can get any work done at all.

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creativelycf
These days, kids know more about the technology than the parents do so, they have the upper hand. Once they get the tablets for free, who knows what they put on them and I bet that the majority of them end up broken within the first week of school ending. Yet, the next year at school they will get another newer model because they can't be left out.

I'm wondering why they would need to learn to use the technology in a class if they already know how to use it? I would figure that not giving them these i-things would probably go a lot longer way towards helping them learn because then they wouldn't be distracted by the e-crap they put on them.

I suspect most of those "students" already own tablets at home which they could bring in to the classroom to do their work on.

What a waste of tax dollars.

@nightfire - Yes, you would think that not giving them tablets would probably go a longer way but in school they are used for educational purposes. They can all watch stuff in class on their little tv's rather than a big bulky tv that used to get wheeled into a room on a cart like when I was in school. I remember the stuff we used to have to watch for class was always so out of date. The tablets let them stay current.

Being for educational purposes only while they are in school, there are measures put into place so that they can't surf the net or play annoying games while teacher is trying to teach. Teacher probably has control over them rather than the students and accesses what they need for the lesson for them.

I'd rather have a laptop anyway, being a bit of a writer. I couldn't imagine typing out full paragraphs let alone almost 1,000 words on a tablet screen keyboard. Plus, I can't concentrate very well to write in public, too much noise.


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They are having children for selfish and narcissistic reasons, or are simply irresponsible. Funny... Those are the terms often used to describe the CF

~Live, Laugh, Love~