Posted on 04/11/2011 9:46:09 AM PDT by pillut48
Does your 5 year old need an iPad?
School officials in Maine certainly think so, where the Auburn Schools Committee voted unanimously to provide all kindergartners with a brand new iPad 2 next year -- with the process repeated for each new incoming class.
It's a move that will ultimately cost the school system about $200,000 next year, including Apple's $25 discount from the designer tablet's regular retail price. While the thought of a bunch of grubby kindergartners running around with $500 equipment may seem ridiculous, school superintendent Tom Morrill is a staunch believer in what he considers "a game changer."
"This is truly redefining how we're going to teach and learn," said Morrill, speaking to the school committee. "We're talking about a new tool, the iPad 2. You begin to watch how young people jump on, jump in and figure this out. It has great potential for leveling the playing field for all students."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
And I’m telling you, as an educational professional, this TOOL will be in schools within 5 years, and you will see improvements in test scores in those schools, mark my words. :-)
Some people here are still making assumptions that I am saying THROW OUT EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE CLASSROOM INCLUDING THE TEACHER AND REPLACE THEM WITH IPADS.
I’m not. :-)
I’m saying, IN CONJUNCTION WITH what is being used *now*, this portable computer is going to make big, POSITIVE differences in education within the next 5 years.
“Higher intellectual pursuits should only be taught after someone has a firm grasp on how to care for themselves physically.”
You didn’t frame this around ‘college’ students—even preschoolers, heck, even NEWBORNS, are taught ‘higher intellectual pursuits’ than what they know when they start learning. Hence my reaction. :-)
And Maslow’s ‘stuff’—my grandma used to call that ‘ladder of needs’ plain old COMMON SENSE.
I was smart enough to know in high school that the pablum they were preaching with Maslow was BS. To tell me that “a majority of the population never reaches self-actualization” tells me that it’s a cult-ish idea with little practical application in life. Yes, the bottom rungs are truly common sense ideas, but in today’s society, there a lot of 20-somethings with no fscking clue how to save money let alone do their own laundry, replace a flat tire, etc.
Intellectual understanding of the real world doesn’t come from a textbook, it comes from mimicking those in your life who “get it,” and learning how to be self-sustaining. This BS that the progressives push about subsistence by government is anathema to the idea of fulfillment of real life needs and wants. You can only truly keep what you earn on your own accord. “That which can be given can also be taken away,” my grandfather used to say.
half the teachers don’t know how to think... or do math...
Unfortunately, I honestly believe the number is MUCH higher than 50%!! :-(
Yes, very elitist and ‘looking down your nose’ at the peons kind of stuff...I remember hearing this stuff non-stop when I went to college in the early 80s for my teaching degree, and even though I didn’t know then what I know now, I knew enough to stop and say, “Huh?!” when I heard it preached like the gospel. :-(
Well even in college, the pillar of Liberalism, my professors taught Maslow as a has-been. He’s been replaced by other more “progressive” ideologues preaching “community approach” and “love triumphs all” mentalities. I never understood how they could say that basic needs would be met through love and affection when you have people like Andrea Yates who “loved” her children and thought it better they be dead.
*sigh* The mental disease that is Liberalism continues its march into the hearts and minds of the ignorant.
ipad users aren’t all that good with computers.
That is great. Now every parent might have to worry about those things.
I too, might support spending $200,000 instead of $50,000 on android tablets if it meant that we could fire a bunch of teachers.
broken, or lost, or stolen.
Fail!
I have 5 computers. None of them PCs. Doing more than fine.
Price drops?
There are versions that aren’t as good at the ipad, the xoom, the new asus transformer, that cost less than $100. They do everything the ipad can DO, and more, but it’s just not the same quality machine as the ipad.
But it can DO everything the ipad can.
The Auburn School District is so stupid that it did not discover that they could buy 7 tablets, one for every student in the school, for the cost of 1 expensive ipad or xoom of transformer. The transformer is said to be better than the ipad, and $399 at best buy.
But I’m talking about the bare minimum. The small child does not need a top of the line tablet. The small child needs a barely functional toy. And the android tablet for $67 is certainly better than a toy. It even does flash.
Every price point from $67 up is met. The $67 dollar model has a 7 inch screen? A larger screen is available for $150.
Why doesn’t the school district just buy 1 $67 touchscreen device which is likely resistive, which can teach handwriting because it uses a stylus, and see if that cheap device can do what the school district wants it to do.
The problem is that the Auburn School District is just stupid. They don’t know what they want it to do. They’re entralled by “apps” wheee apps. We’re looking forward to finding out what these things can do. Sweet, spend $200K, then figure out what they’ll do for you.
Just give them a sweet cable package or satellite package, and a big tv and say “wow, look at all the channels” and every classroom can get a 55 inch lcd screen. it’s essential to learning. Just flick around until you find something educational. Watch this kids. It’s educational.
All the teachers in Auburn like this deal.
The Kindergarteners get ipads, and every teacher in the school, K-6, gets an ipad.
wow, it seems like an apple screwup.
An ipad is unnecessary for a 5 year old. The ipad does play video games. Perhaps a cheaper device which only does what the school wants it to. Or any device that costs $100 - not $500.
It’s a ploy to get TEACHERS ipads.
Who gets ipads?
Students - Kindergarteners
Teachers - ALL teachers get ipads.
They can get a generic ipad for under $100. Good enough for a kindergartener. But teachers want the nifty ipad for themselves.
$200K can buy an ipad for every 5 year old and every teacher, or a generic ipad for every student and every teacher. $67 gets a generic ipad. Not anywhere near as good, but able to DO everything an ipad does, and more.
yes. like sarah palin, or trump talking about a bc.
This folly has become a somewhat big news story. Getting international coverage. Aren’t we supposed to be cutting right about now? Budget issues? Not buying really cool Christmas presents for 5 year olds. And, no doubt, ipad is cool, but 5 year olds don’t need the newest, most expensive tech, especially when taxpayers have to pay. Oh, no doubt, people who are incapable of doing much of anything on a computer should have the best computers. The ipad 1 was just not good enough for 5 year olds. No, they need the ipad 2. Because the taxpayer knows that the smallest of children need the most expensive of electronic equipment.
I hear that they’re giving electron microscopes to pre schoolers now. They thought that giving the electron microscopes to the kids would turn them into scientists, but they just broke them.
Spend $100 on a generic ipad, see if it works well enough for a 5 year old, and if it does, give them that, and save $400.
The GPS better keep working. Younger people, 30 or younger often have no clue about how to find their way around without a GPS. Before that, it was Google Maps, with explicit directions. They don’t seem to have the ability to really read a map or have anything like a sense of direction, or any awareness of distance. Maybe I just know stupid people.
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