Dr Lewis tells us the that the "demographic" * of Lancaster is such that our students and citizens are not very computer literate. He proposes to remedy that problem by assigning each student in the school district a laptop computer.
Well, maybe he's right about the kids (and even the adults) in Lancaster, Texas. There's probably not a whole lot of people who have computers, or e-mail accounts, or picture cell phones, I-pods, Palm PDAs or Blackberrries. Be lucky to have a pager, y'think?
Not.
Me, I'm thinkin' a whole lot of people 'round here have all that kind of tech tools. Blogs, even. So, let's see. How many people are interested to come make a little noise about the school district, and much money they spend, and how their test scores look, and what we ought to do about getting good classrooms and sharp teachers for all the kids?
If there's a bunch of folks talking about it, making a racket here, we'll know that the laptop-in-schools thing is just a thing.
And if we hear the crickets chirping, well, we'll know that too.
( * "Demographics" which are more than just the race or the income level or the home value or the age of the Lancaster population, but exactly what we are, that the word means, the good doctor does not exactly specify. )
2 comments:
I can not understand why anyone would even consider using long term debt to pay for something so temporary as a notebook computer.
First,computers are absolute the moment you buy them and as far as computers go laptops are super fragile and vulnerable to theft. You would not take out a mortgage to buy a car and a car is much more likely to last five years than a laptop computer.
Second, I just finished paying for two textbooks lost or stolen during the last school year. There is no way I will allow my kid to take responsibility for a laptop. She will get a laptop when I decide the time is right to buy one for her.
Third, we must be careful when we embrace technology that we advance our cause. Technology for technology's sake is a waste of time and money. We must have proof that inclusion of another layer of technology will result in an improvement of our childrens' education.
Last, if the district wishes to enhance community access to technology it should open an IT instruction department and train students so that they can earn certifications such as A+ and various networking standards. The same students could build all of the district's computers and establish computer labs in all of the district's schools and keep them open to any Lancaster family. Working in these labs would be a great work study job for LISD grads in local junior colleges and universities.
Okay forgive me from going off on a tangent but the bottom line is that anyone who would pay for a laptop computer with long term debt is out of his mind.
I can not understand why anyone would even consider using long term debt to pay for something so temporary as a notebook computer.
First,computers are absolute the moment you buy them and as far as computers go laptops are super fragile and vulnerable to theft. You would not take out a mortgage to buy a car and a car is much more likely to last five years than a laptop computer.
Second, I just finished paying for two textbooks lost or stolen during the last school year. There is no way I will allow my kid to take responsibility for a laptop. She will get a laptop when I decide the time is right to buy one for her.
Third, we must be careful when we embrace technology that we advance our cause. Technology for technology's sake is a waste of time and money. We must have proof that inclusion of another layer of technology will result in an improvement of our childrens' education.
Last, if the district wishes to enhance community access to technology it should open an IT instruction department and train students so that they can earn certifications such as A+ and various networking standards. The same students could build all of the district's computers and establish computer labs in all of the district's schools and keep them open to any Lancaster family. Working in these labs would be a great work study job for LISD grads in local junior colleges and universities.
Okay forgive me from going off on a tangent but the bottom line is that anyone who would pay for a laptop computer with long term debt is out of his mind.
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