Short on BRAINS, Texas School Uses Laptops

[nfotxn]

DALLAS - Every fifth- and sixth-grader at Johnson Elementary will receive a $1,350 IBM ThinkPad computer loaded with digital versions of state-approved textbooks and 2,000 works of literature. If the experiment works, the program will be expanded to other grades.

"We think this is better than simply going out and buying more textbooks," said Forney Independent School District superintendent Mike Smith, who expected a shortage of 600 textbooks in August. Enrollment is projected to rise 20 percent or more at the district, and it takes three months to get new books.

What sort of dystopian society do we live in that it's easier to order enough laptop computers for an entire school than it is to get a hold of the textbooks? Computers are double fucking plus good, I suppose.

"If the students have all of Shakespeare's works loaded on their notebook, the school doesn't need to go out and buy all of those books," Moore said. "And the real benefit is that it's all interactive and searchable."

Please, a paperback trade of Romeo & Juliet costs $1USD. And that's in quantities of 1. Now here's the hard part to swallow: paper is better. There are all sorts of intrinsic qualities to paper that digital interfaces merely emulate. The resolution of the printed page is also many times that even the highest resolution displays. You can dog-ear pages, rip them out, use a highlighter and even get paper fairly wet without it failing to function. Having searchable text only encourages students not to read and comprehend the text.

"A child's set of textbooks costs $350," Smith said. "If they can get these notebooks down to $500, it gets cost-effective in a hurry."

Yeah, but they cost $1 350! Enough for textbooks for nearly four children. But what do this fuckwits have to say about the durability?

Computer makers are also adding features to make laptops less prone to break if they are dropped — a big concern of school administrators and parents. Moore said the IBM model that Forney will buy disconnects the recording head from the hard disk drive and locks it when the machine senses it is falling.

In Henrico County, Va., where schools give laptops to all high schoolers, Apple Computer Inc. replaced pop-out CD-ROM trays with slides on its iBook laptops when students kept breaking off the trays after forgetting to close them.

"They get heavy use, and occasionally they drop them," said Cathy Fisher, Henrico's director of high school education. Still, she said breakage, as well as thefts, are rare.

Most responsible adults I know have at least one major problem with their notebook computers within 3 years. Totally annecdotal, sure, but I can assure everyone that exceptions to this are rare. Not to mention that batteries in notebooks are quite openly known to be disposeable and prone to failure with poor maintence. Textbooks generally do not fail without significant effort or require electricity of any type. Breakage and thefts are "rare"? That's just bullshit. Kids used to steal my pencil case.

"Many institutions have looked at this and decided, 'We're not ready for this,' whether it's the cost, the politics of the cost, or the difficulty of curriculum differences" from school to school, said Kenneth C. Green, director of The Campus Computing Project, which tracks technology use at colleges.

That's because many institutions haven't approached the idea with total technofetishist tunnel vision. The way I see it they're investing 4x as much to discourage literacy, encourage theft and increase their operating costs. For much less cost they could provide terminals with access to royalty free texts via Project Gutenberg for very little cost. I fear the primary motivation here is to pander to the implied right that children must be entertained at all times to be engaged. That's simply not how one attains an education.

This shit reeks of affluence and laziness.

Comments

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Actually what it reeks of to me is someone getting a kickback.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

You figure IBM is getting a kickback?

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

More typically it would be the official(s) who made the decision to purchase.

Mind I'm not saying there *was* one, only that if I were going to be suspicious this is what I'd suspect.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Oh probably. Not to rail on Texas (but I will) it would be all too typical. That place is rife unregulated corporate greed.

I concur.

[bearringsd.livejournal.com]

With both of you. And yes, I too think that something in this thing smells fishy. I'm sure you are not the only one that saw how stupid this idea is too.

[theotherqpc.livejournal.com]

ugh.

i've read the same text on screen and on paper before, and the paper was certainly much easier to focus on. if i'm editing an essay, mistakes are much more obvious when on paper.

scrolling makes me lose my place more often than skipping a page in a book.

...and as you mention, it's hard as hell to highlight, take notes, etc. on a screen.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Again our computer technology only emulates the tactile interfaces present in everyday life. We get so much information from our hands. They're covered in nerves and I think only exceeded by our genitals. When you think of the ways your hands move typing or mousing on a computer it's just so limited.

Paper is inimate and luxurious. Pens more expressive than any unicode typeface. The modern world is so obsessed with "high tech" that we really ignore the most refined technologies we've been working on for hundreds of years. The fact that these technologies are opposed only shows how primative it all is.

[profundis.livejournal.com]

Well...the fingertips and lips are actually the most sensitive parts of the body inch for inch, but genitals rank up there, of course. Along the lines of your point, fingertips are the only part of the body besides the brains where grey matter tissue is found. Your fingertips are literally intelligent perceptors.

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

I'm telling you: the whole notion that students need computers is as bullshit now as it has been for the last 25+ years. There are very few studies that have been published that I've seen, but one that sticks in my mind is an Israeli study that basically shows that computers in classrooms are nearly worthless. Yes, this predates the use of the Internet as a research tool, but even so, I wouldn't hesitate to wager that Internet access is an sich worthless without the requisite background in information studies and/or library science. Just because you can type in the URI for Google doesn't mean you have a clue about how to find good information.

Anyhow, yeah. All of these weird "The state of ______ bought a laptop for every child in the ____th grade this month" deals strike me as a fundamental misuse of public funding. No one is asking if these programs actually help any child; instead, people are still drinking the Kool-Aid that tells them that "computers" somehow magically enhance the learning process. As far as I know, they don't.

Even if I did cheat and do a full-text search of Shakespeare's plays while writing my senior thesis in English twelve years ago this month.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

No one is asking if these programs actually help any child; instead, people are still drinking the Kool-Aid that tells them that "computers" somehow magically enhance the learning process. As far as I know, they don't.

And it's been going on pretty much since I started school in the early 80s. Infact I was often used at my primary school as some sort of shining example of how much the new "Computer Lab" would benefit kids. Because I got good marks at the time and spent most of my time playing with qbasic. Thing is it didn't aid my learning in any other subjects whatsoever. It's just that I had a strong interest in computing and happened to have no trouble learning outside of that context.

Ideally public money would never be misused and only benefit the public directly. Unfortunately I think the only way to do that is to have a straight-forward Communist governement. I mean we build roads so car manufacturers can sell us cars. I suppose extensibly our schools are only ripe for the picking. I don't want to demonize capitalism, really. It affords me the lifestyle I enjoy today. However the system as it occurs all over the world seems so ripe with bullheaded self-serving absurdity.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Actually public schools were originally created by wealthy industrialists in order to raise better workers, workers who were equipped to run the new machinery in the plant. We're getting back to basics when school boards "consult the community" about "relevant curriculum" and "job preparedness". Which is probelmatic in some ways, but not altogether bad - I mean, think about the people you went to school with in Hamilton, wouldn't most of them have been more enthusuastic about curriculm that was clearly connected to a job and a recognised role in the community, instead of the abstract gobbledygook they were fed?

It was a triumph of the Victorian Philanthropic Ladies and their daughters that schools became publically funded and taught something other than Sweatshop Sewing Techniques 101H and How To Be A Cog In The Machine 208Y. That was a fad which has clearly passed.

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

I guess it all goes back to New Lanark, eh?

[thekingoftoday.livejournal.com]

Brodie, I'm disappointed. After our late night snuggle session and discussions of Naomi Klein I'm surprised you don't see the marketing strategy in this. These kids, if the program continues, will have an IBM laptop all the way through high school. That being the case, what kind of computer do you think they will buy when they leave school? Not to mentions all the shit that will be pre-loaded onto these computers. I guarantee they'll be loaded with IBM-friendly software and not have the option to use anything else while in school.

Wasn't IBM's slogan "Think Outside the Box?"

That's funny.

[foodpoisoningsf.livejournal.com]

I agree with Mr. L about the marketing aspect. This is not about children, it's about adults.

I don 't think the school district is paying for the notebooks initially, and it's a good PR hook for IBM. I'm sure the school administrators love the attention and the opportunity to look awesomely progessive in Texas fer chrissakes. And the next IBM ad- bringing the digital revolution to school kids.

Kids being kids, I hope thay complain about the slow speeds and lack of WiFi and plug-ins. And if these are so much cheaper than books, who's paying for the IT department they'll need to maintain them... oops, there goes the librarian. (Will the IT guy become the shop teacher of the new millenium?)

Unfortunately I think the whole idea of a "good education" is pretty much bullshit. I'd rather send the NEDS to charm school than give them computers. Education isn't given, it's sucked up by hungry people of all ages.

[danlmarmot.livejournal.com]

$1350. 150 kids. That's $202,500.

And that's one lazy superintendent. It's late April, and he can't find books for August? Puleeze. Texas is a big place, I'm sure there's some extra state-approved textbooks around. And even if there aren't, hey, he could do what we did and just copy the chapters until the textbooks come in.

Then he can take the remaining dollars and put those 2000 works of literature in the school library so every student can use them, and not just the special few.

Or maybe he can give each student a TV and a VCR. I hear television is a wonderful educational tool as well.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I think it's telling that all the people with careers and interest in IT are generally opposed to the idea of education being primarily facilitated by technology.

If they're set heartset at using technology to better education why don't they institute a system for tracking their assets across schoolboards more accurately? I'm sure the cost of development would be pretty low and provide some college students or even advanced highschool students with awesome resumé fodder.

Thanks for the reminder about television in the classroom. I remember wishing we could do our work out of books again because the goddamn programs took so long to watch. Whereas working from a text I could assimilate the information so much faster.

[theotherqpc.livejournal.com]

i'll admit, i came from an affluent community, and my high school got TONS of corporate funding (lunch by Coca-Cola, book covers donated by Clinique and FOX). there were TVs in every room - the cafeteria included. in my AP chem class, we had demos on video, which i thought were a spectacular waste of time. what savings it allowed by not having to buy chemicals it made up for in not allowing us more sensory observation of the reaction - feeling temperature change rather than reading it on the thermometer in the video, smelling dehydrated sucrose rather than being told it gives off an odor, etc.

sounds familiar ....

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Like the comments in the late 70s and early 80s that personcal computers were going to make offices completely paperless.

HA! HAHAHAHAH!

Re: sounds familiar ....

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Best book on the topic, ever.

Re: sounds familiar ....

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

... When everybody KNOWS it's the Tablet PC that's going to do it.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I know it's only a press release but they're just spurting dogma there. I mean people used to steal anything I had in school including my textbooks. I'm sure the craftier of smart kids will even sell their own laptops or components to make some extra cash. I doubt the schoolboard is going to mandate they use a laptop computer in order to study and make their liable for the equipement.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, the one thing computers are eminently useful for teaching is ... how to use computers.

I'm at present facilitating an adult literacy class using computers, it's for people who want to use their literacy skills in that environment. It really is quite different from teaching pen-paper-book literacy.

[mjollnir.livejournal.com]

I'm on the internet daily. I read and write tens of thousands of words each week. And yet none of it compares to having a book in your hand, curled up in a comfy chair, turning the pages one by one. Put me down for an 'agree' vote.

John

[(Anonymous)]

not just that, but they are giving them to grade 5 and 6 students. I can't even remeber how many text books I lost during those 2 years. Probably a couple times whole school bags were lost. Kids do dumb things and have no respect for the value of things given to them for free.

I'm sure had I been given a laptop by my school it would have met some horrid end before the school year ended. Or would have been traded for a large stack of comics and some candy. Besides junior schools about fundamentals, which all you need for them are paper and pens. They have been taught in various forms to certain classes at least since like pre biblical times with out the aid of computers.

Secondly why do they need $1,300 computers?? If all they want is to use them to store books on and run word processing etc, I have a 386 downstairs that can read .txt files and run word processor. Should be able to everything those kiddies need and you could probably pick one of those babies up for I dunno $50 these days, and it's capable of using dial up internet. (actually $50 a student for a shitty computer might be cheaper then texts and paper), Would cover all thier education concerns. All the other goodies on the expensive laptops only mater for playing games and watching movies, which they shouldn't be doing with publicly given school computers anyway. And it would elimate theft, who'd want to steal an old bulky desktop? Sure the software these kids are running probably won't be current, they'd be writting thier reports on wordperfect 5.1 but it doesn't mater, if you gave em new stuff with all current programs the stuff they'd be learning and running would be way obslete by the time they enter the workforce anyway.

Maybe ya I can see a point in given highschool students (even then mostly just the senior students) computers. Especially if say their focus is IT related. They'd get a lot more use out of them, and could probably use them to learn current programs of value in the current work place that some of them maybe about to enter. Say like have a autocad course for people studying drafting, or a 3d rendering, or computer graphic design course avaible as say an arts class. But giving 10 year olds laptops? Seems kinda wasteful

that's sad

[slumberjack.livejournal.com]

The business college I teach at gives out laptops. (Lots of the students mistakenly believe they are free, but they are actually part of the tuition.)

While I don't have to deal with the complaints about "having no place to print my paper" that I had teaching at the state university, I do have a whole truckload of new problems. Students will sit in class and chat with their friends on IM or play games while I lecture. Then later, when they hand in assignments, realize that they missed some very important information about the class.

All in all, I make my students close their laptops, at least for discussions in my lit class. And for typing papers, computer labs worked just fine for me in undergrad school.

Yep, it's a stupid idea. Leave it to Texas. I wish they would just secede from the rest of the U.S. and save us the embarrassment.