LA to give every student an iPad; $30M order

[psikeyhackr]

Not necessarily. One can be highly intelligent and not use computers. Or, one can be so and choose to use them in varying ways. Conversely, one can be "not intelligent" and use computers as well... psikey.

This is about millions being spent on using them for education not just any one person using them or not using them.

No matter what anyone says computers do have indisputable advantages over a live teacher. They never get bored. They never get impatient. They don't have bad hair days. They don't get cancer and still have to come to work.

So not using them for education would be dumb. But that does not mean spending $30 million for iPads was smart.

psik

 

[Wake]

Not necessarily. One can be highly intelligent and not use computers. Or, one can be so and choose to use them in varying ways. Conversely, one can be "not intelligent" and use computers as well... psikey.

This is about millions being spent on using them for education not just any one person using them or not using them.

No matter what anyone says computers do have indisputable advantages over a live teacher. They never get bored. They never get impatient. They don't have bad hair days. They don't get cancer and still have to come to work.

So not using them for education would be dumb. But that does not mean spending $30 million for iPads was smart.

psik

While I do think that using computers/technology may help students with their intellectual endeavors, I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for it (if that is indeed the case).

From my experience, one can get better educational insights from a devoted and adept teacher than an inorganic machine whose potential can only be tapped from the one wielding said technology. Some teachers can be more valuable than the best technology in certain hands.

 

[Jos]

The dog ate my iPad?

 

[SayMyName]

Too funny. And people wonder if we pay too much in taxes. Ask your average college professor what the least respected professions in academia are and they will tell you, Education and Journalism.

I don't wonder why.

 

[psikeyhackr]

While I do think that using computers/technology may help students with their intellectual endeavors, I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for it (if that is indeed the case).

From my experience, one can get better educational insights from a devoted and adept teacher than an inorganic machine whose potential can only be tapped from the one wielding said technology. Some teachers can be more valuable than the best technology in certain hands.

I could get better educational insights from 10 books by Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov than from any three of my "live" grade school teachers.

I would regard this on a tablet

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everycircuit&hl=en

as more useful than English Literature that taxpayers must pay for.

psik

 

[Wake]

While I do think that using computers/technology may help students with their intellectual endeavors, I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for it (if that is indeed the case).

From my experience, one can get better educational insights from a devoted and adept teacher than an inorganic machine whose potential can only be tapped from the one wielding said technology. Some teachers can be more valuable than the best technology in certain hands.

I could get better educational insights from 10 books by Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov than from any three of my "live" grade school teachers.

I would regard this on a tablet

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everycircuit&hl=en

as more useful than English Literature that taxpayers must pay for.

psik

I was thinking more along the lines of college and university teachers/professors. There are quite a few insightful books that can provide one with a deeper sense of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom. Grade school teachers stick to their elementary topics, and have their own personal issues and stresses to think about. I suspect their lives may be more frustrating than college and university educators.

While a tablet can be a remarkable tool in the hands of an intellectually ravenous mind, it costs a pretty penny. A penny I think ought to be paid by those who want the tool, and not by the effort of the taxpayers. If this practice of giving expensive technology to students on the backs of the taxpayers is to be accepted as normal, when should we swap these gadgets for more expensive ones?

 

[Caroljo]

Not necessarily. One can be highly intelligent and not use computers. Or, one can be so and choose to use them in varying ways. Conversely, one can be "not intelligent" and use computers as well... psikey.

This is about millions being spent on using them for education not just any one person using them or not using them.

No matter what anyone says computers do have indisputable advantages over a live teacher. They never get bored. They never get impatient. They don't have bad hair days. They don't get cancer and still have to come to work.

So not using them for education would be dumb. But that does not mean spending $30 million for iPads was smart.

psik

While I do think that using computers/technology may help students with their intellectual endeavors, I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for it (if that is indeed the case).

From my experience, one can get better educational insights from a devoted and adept teacher than an inorganic machine whose potential can only be tapped from the one wielding said technology. Some teachers can be more valuable than the best technology in certain hands.

In my grandson's school here in Michigan they get ipads too. They're signed out to each student at no cost....BUT, if it's lost, stolen, smashed, whatever, the parents have to pay the school back for it. The ipads are turned in the end of each year then given back to the students in the fall.

 

[Wake]

In my grandson's school here in Michigan they get ipads too. They're signed out to each student at no cost....BUT, if it's lost, stolen, smashed, whatever, the parents have to pay the school back for it. The ipads are turned in the end of each year then given back to the students in the fall.

That makes one wonder who's paying for the costs. It's likely the taxpayer. I wonder if students/parents are allowed to opt out of this Ipad concept. My thoughts are rather biased towards more traditional means of education. A quiet, historical room in a university, shuffling through papers while scribbling down advanced equations and concepts. I like the feel of an old university from the past.

All of these latest gimmicks, equipping students with seemingly free gadgets and gizmos... When can we start expecting free cars and gasoline for students who need transportation? Meals? Housing? We'd likely get a far better influx of students if these institutions could have meals, cars, and housings signed out to them for a while.

I would rather have those people pay for their own expensive Ipads.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I was thinking more along the lines of college and university teachers/professors. There are quite a few insightful books that can provide one with a deeper sense of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom. Grade school teachers stick to their elementary topics, and have their own personal issues and stresses to think about. I suspect their lives may be more frustrating than college and university educators.

I think college is over rated and grade school is under utilized.

I didn't think about how peculiar it was until decades later but it seemed perfectly ordinary to me in 7th grade. Arthur C. Clarke discussed Plato's Allegory of the Cave in his book, A Fall of Moodust (1961). I didn't learn anything about it from my teachers in grade school or high school. College was not impressive. Only the technical subjects mattered. Various sci-fi books had presented philosophy and sociology better or pointed to books that did. Heinlein mentioned Loglan in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress which led to General Semantics.

School is over rated, a National Recommended Reading List would be extremely useful.

psik

 

[Wake]

I was thinking more along the lines of college and university teachers/professors. There are quite a few insightful books that can provide one with a deeper sense of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom. Grade school teachers stick to their elementary topics, and have their own personal issues and stresses to think about. I suspect their lives may be more frustrating than college and university educators.

I think college is over rated and grade school is under utilized.

I didn't think about how peculiar it was until decades later but it seemed perfectly ordinary to me in 7th grade. Arthur C. Clarke discussed Plato's Allegory of the Cave in his book, A Fall of Moodust (1961). I didn't learn anything about it from my teachers in grade school or high school. College was not impressive. Only the technical subjects mattered. Various sci-fi books had presented philosophy and sociology better or pointed to books that did. Heinlein mentioned Loglan in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress which led to General Semantics.

School is over rated, a National Recommended Reading List would be extremely useful.

psik

You have a unique perspective different from mine.

I never went to a public school. My parents homeschooled me. When I went to college, I seemed to be a bit more prepared than those from public schools. Colleges should focus more on the hard sciences and mathematics, and perhaps literature and philosophy should have less importance than the former studies mentioned. My college schooling was basically passing all prerequisites for nursing school, and then progressing into the RN program. Besides basic 101 English and Literature classes, we weren't taught much beyond that. I chose to study Psychology and Abnormal Psychology (the other choices being sociology) because I found it fascinating.

When it comes to studies, things that are more rooted in objective sciences, are what I think should be focused on. Schools should be more strict, and the bar set higher. I don't like how our public schools have been dumbed down, and how so many public school students I have known... well... they didn't seem to know much to be brutally honest. It would be interesting if every grade class in public schools were replaced with classes 2-3 grades higher. Get them focused on hands-on application of mathematics on a chalk board, or more in-depthly mixing formulas. Have these students feet put to the fire, like pushing a young bird off a cliff to make it fly. Like a test. Have them give speeches in front of class daily. Have them put through the rigors of serious testing and application. Instead of having them sit behind a desk in the back while they tinker on a cell phone, immerse them in all that knowledge can provide. Like clay, mold them masterfully.

/passionate rant.

 

[Caroljo]

In my grandson's school here in Michigan they get ipads too. They're signed out to each student at no cost....BUT, if it's lost, stolen, smashed, whatever, the parents have to pay the school back for it. The ipads are turned in the end of each year then given back to the students in the fall.

That makes one wonder who's paying for the costs. It's likely the taxpayer. I wonder if students/parents are allowed to opt out of this Ipad concept. My thoughts are rather biased towards more traditional means of education. A quiet, historical room in a university, shuffling through papers while scribbling down advanced equations and concepts. I like the feel of an old university from the past.

All of these latest gimmicks, equipping students with seemingly free gadgets and gizmos... When can we start expecting free cars and gasoline for students who need transportation? Meals? Housing? We'd likely get a far better influx of students if these institutions could have meals, cars, and housings signed out to them for a while.

I would rather have those people pay for their own expensive Ipads.

I'm sure the money for them are coming out of the taxpayers...the schools can't force parents to purchase them even if they're required because of the expense and because most parents couldn't afford them. And I agree with you about the old traditional way to teach! However, things have changed so much in my 60 years, and we all know things are not going to stay the same. The only good thing about those ipads is, if they're not turned in each year, the parents are charged for them. And the ipads are being re-used each year.
But then that makes me think, as fast as technology changes, how many years could the schools actually get out of them before having to buy new again?

 

[psikeyhackr]

You have a unique perspective different from mine.

I never went to a public school. My parents homeschooled me. When I went to college, I seemed to be a bit more prepared than those from public schools. Colleges should focus more on the hard sciences and mathematics, and perhaps literature and philosophy should have less importance than the former studies mentioned.

Like clay, mold them masterfully.

/passionate rant.

My mother sent me to Catholic schools. The nuns never taught any science in grade school. I learned science as a result of SF books. All of my science teachers in high school were lay teachers. One of the funniest things in high school was my biology teachers nearly getting into a fight with one of the nitwit Christian brothers.

The trouble is there is too much molding being attempted. But it is molding to be dumb.

How can double-entry accounting be 700 years old but not be mandatory in high school but everyone is supposed to get 4 years of English Lit but then the talk about jobs.

Aren't the jobs about making money and then people have to manage the money? But look at what happened with all of the mortgages people could not afford years ago. Are the schools supposed to MOLD dumb worker/consumers for the sake of Free Enterprise?

psik

 

[psikeyhackr]

Should have shopped at Wal-Mart.



Could have bought an extra 20% to serve as spares in case of failures and breakage. Since it has a microSD slot the student could save work and just swap the card to a working device.

psik