Tennessee private school requires iPad for class

[notorious bum]

Are these the same kids that experts think 2/3rds of them have ADD? How many apps do they have for the iPad again?

[Fievel]

Is it a good idea to teach a 9 year old responsibility and give them the tools they need to get the best education possible?

Um...yes?

Teaching responsibility is great sure, but doing it by giving them a $600 ipad that most will damage if not completely destroy isn't the smartest way to go about it, that's all I'm saying.

[Senoska]

it sounds more like giving them toys though. hell, even my ti graphing calculator got turned into a gaming machine when i was in school.

Kids learn by playing. You see them fucking around on a computer, I see them gaining important skills for their future.

I was helping my mom with her resume one day and I told her she needed to copy and paste a line. She goes "Okay, how do I do that?"

That is a line that should never be spoken, and hopefully, this will gear the kids for the future.

Also: Times change. You guys sound like the old guy screaming at the kids to stay off the lawn. Things can be different than when you were a kid.

[Correction]

Is it a good idea to teach a 9 year old responsibility and give them the tools they need to get the best education possible?

Um...yes?

The traditional way to accomplish the responsibility lesson is to give children an allowance and not replace or cover mistakes made when spending said allowance, not handing them an expensive electronic device that they can break with no consequences. You speak as if those thinking the ipads are a bad idea in the hands of kids young enough to still misplace shoes don't want kids to have the best education possible.

[archibaldcrane]

it sounds more like giving them toys though. hell, even my ti graphing calculator got turned into a gaming machine when i was in school.

Mine too.

And it was my first experience with a programming language. Indirect route, but valuable experience.

[Qalbert]

I made a very short, primitive, text-based adventure game on mine.

[Correction]

My AP Calculus BC class had tetris, columns, tron bikes and 5 card draw poker on our graphing calculators. Those with TI calculators, anyway. The suckers who bought the HP calcs got nothing.

[arus2001]

Is the iPad limited to local wireless internet, or is it more like a phone and having satellite/tower connectivity? If the former, I don't really see an issue with the school filtering traffic to keep the Facebooking and such to a minimum. Then again, I'd always draw in class instead of taking notes and shit. Still did fairly well without stressing over perfect grades. Meanwhile, I'm sure the school would have protective options on their leased units, maybe even tracking devices like I've seen on some kid things lately. I'd imagine the high pricing on the lease would also help to cover lost or damaged units. Wouldn't rule out the school making a deal with Apple for cheaper gear, either.

For now, I know I wouldn't trust my nephew with one, but he's also an immature fuckwit and his parents have no real concept of punishment when he misbehaves. I recall when I was that age, I had things like my NES, Genesis, and so on that I understood were expensive and took good care of. Until my bitch of a little sister spilled milk on my Sega, anyway, because she wanted the TV. Ruined one of the video output jacks, but luckily they had the s-video or whatever it was. Now that I think about it, any damage my consoles have incurred over the years have been a result of her tantrums.

[Lucavi]

But is it really a good idea in any way to give a 9 year old a $600 dollar device?

Private School.

Come on. They had $600 devices out of the fucking womb. They can put it right next to their Mustangs that they got for their 8th birthday.

[Fievel]

Private School.

Come on.

Okay okay fine

[kareface]

Bottom line is, this is a cool route and all but why not get http://www.kno.com instead?

I looked into this when I was looking for a tablet to replace my books. 2 problems: The first is boor selection of books. I have 3 books on course smart for the last 2 quarters and the kno had none of them. Second, you can't use pirated books. The main reason I invested in the ipad is to avoid paying for books when possible. First quarter I've already saved $60 over the cheapest price I could find the book to rent and this way I have a copy I can keep. Not to mention you can do 100 times more with the ipad. Battery life is way better on the ipad too. I usually only charge my ipad once pre school week. You also have access to the kindle and nook libraries on the ipad.

[Julian]

lolipad, and stuff. This is pretty dumb, just get them a real laptop.

[Pirian]

lolipad, and stuff. This is pretty dumb, just get them a real laptop.

Really, this. Fuck apple and its overpriced, pay-for-brand-name, crap. In 5 years when the Ipad 5 comes out, then maybe it'll be worth buying, but all the crap they intentionally left out so they could put on later generations is just fucking stupid.

nb4 apple product war

[archibaldcrane]

Really, this. Fuck apple and its overpriced, pay-for-brand-name, crap. In 5 years when the Ipad 5 comes out, then maybe it'll be worth buying, but all the crap they intentionally left out so they could put on later generations is just fucking stupid.

nb4 apple product war

Last thing we need is a bunch of kids with face-time tablets.

Or is that the first thing we need? /pedo

[TummieGaruda]

iPads =/= Textbooks

If their main reasoning for this is to use the iPad as an e-reader, then it is a very terrible idea.
If you lose a textbook or if you leave it at home from doing the previous nights homework, then you cannot use that textbook for that class. If you leave your iPad at home/forget to charge the battery and all of your class books are in e-reader form on the iPad, then you are SoL the whole day. Also, would you rather have your child walk home with an iPad or a textbook? Which is more likely to get stolen by someone?

Also, I really don't get this whole "We want kids to be able to use current technology and be familiar with it" thing that a lot of schools are pushing. By far, teens are already deeply immersed in current technology and adults tend to think that children are unaware of technological advances. To me it seems like a lot of hot air to get expensive gizmos to boost the schools image in some way. Also I laughed at the part about blocking facebook. I am sure kids are as smart as we were back when I was in High School where we could get around filters in the computer labs. Facebook may be blocked but there are so many ways you can get around firewall content filters that kids already know about.

[miokomioko]

They really should just require netbooks or something, but I'm sure they are going the iPad route to make sure everyone has an identical device with the highest assumed "user-friendly"ness.

Still, this age group with delicate electronics like iPads is fucking lol.

[Julian]

I know several people whose parents sent them to private schools by scraping together every extra cent they could to make sure their kids got a decent education, not because they were already dripping cash.

This is true, as was the case for me for one year, but that case is generally the minority in schools like those.

[kareface]

You'd have to forget to charge it for like a week. I don't think it would be a good idea for k-8, maybe still a bad idea for HS age kids, less so than k-8. Last quarter I used my netbook, I had to charge it every 2 days where I only charge the ipad once a week, it's heavier by a small margin and if you are like myself and have to use coursesmart for some of your books the ipad is a much better option than the netbook. I hate the company, but coursesmart has more of the books I've needed for class than any other digital textbook site.

[rant]

The web interface for coursesmart is fucking horrible compared to their ipad app interface. The ipad app loads much faster, allows for pinch zooming and swiping to change pages, had a much better system for browsing chapters and pages and you don't need to 'login' every time you want to look at your books and it remembers where you left off when you leave. The web one loads slow compared to the ipad version (this isn't in my head, I've done side by sides to show people), only has 2 zoom options and you have to zoom each page individually which requires loading new images to do (so if you want to zoom in just a little you have to refresh every new page twice and you don't need to do that on the ipad), the chapter browsing fucking blows, you need to load each chapter page to see the sub sections, and then load those to see to see the ones below that if there are any. In some of my books to get to a specific page on the online interface I have to load 4 pages + a refresh for zoom and the sluggish speed of the web version makes it hellish to do. Not to mention there isn't a easy way to hop right into your books. On the ipad you click the coursesmart button and it logs in for you and brings you back to where you left off. Course smart does have a downloadable version of their books that run more like the ipad app, with 2 problems. The first is you only have access to those books via that computer, in my case I use my desktop and my netbook quite frequently and I really want access on both. The second problem is most of the brand new books don't have the downloadable option available yet. If you get a book that just came out a few months ago you'll likely only have the web option available to you.

[/rant]

[Cesaria]

I don't actually see the problem with the age of the kids and the technology (I used to tutor a 5 year old who had his own laptop he was responsible for charging, storing safely etc and it was really touching how careful he was with it) - generally kids are more capable than you'd give them credit for when you reinforce that things are expensive and breakable (you'll always get the odd bad apple but I've loaned kids of that age group all sorts of my own personal equipment for various means and they've always treated things with respect - talking things like my mobile phone, iPod and all sorts... was a science lesson where all the fucking stopwatches were broken again as usual so had to improvise). It will, however be a collossal pain in the arse because this sort of stuff in schools always is.

Most schools have things like trolleys of laptops you're meant to be able to wheel down to your classroom, switch on, seamlessly connect to the school wifi and print out their work at the end of the session... key word - MEANT. It never ever fucking works and the whole thing becomes such a headache that by the 3rd week of term you're back to "fuck it they can't look at that website during the lesson because it'll either be down at our end or the provider's end I'll print a handout and photocopy it for them." Add in the factor where 99% of them will be fucking on on Facebook or MSN when they're meant to be paying attention and the scheme will be quietly dropped within a term anyway (I used to love our computer suite having a "lock all the PCs when you want to talk to the class as a whole" button).

Even the shit that's already in place in schools isn't used to anywhere near its potential - the number of places I go where their interactive whiteboards are used for nothing more than showing powerpoints is ridiculous... either that or they're used for the sake of using them (I've had that one before when visitors came in - told I HAD to do lessons using the interactive stuff because I was the only staff member who knew how to use it properly). Plus, another big one that pisses me off - we don't teach kids how to type - we push and push for them to use technology more - but are happy to let them painfully hunt and peck each letter out one at a fucking time.

I also can't digest in-depth information properly on-screen. I can type and output written information much better onscreen than in writing, but for serious stuff I really need to take in - I NEED it printed out in front of me - some things are better done by a proper paper textbook.

[Max™]

Up hill both ways?

He lived on a complex topological plane.


The Kno looks awesome in theory, fuck that faggoty iBullshit.