Any public school districts around that don't require use of Chromebooks? (Plano: to buy, college)

[smileyface123]

Son is is in high school and we are looking to be somewhere that doesn't require chromebooks for every class. Does that even exist anywhere anymore?

[ThomasCrown]

The only districts that wouldn't require such a thing would either be a small rural district or one with a very small or economically challenged tax base who can't afford to buy them.

[4Movingeast]

You will be hard pressed to find a school district that has great SPED services that isn't also 1:1. Esp after Covid it's pretty much standard. These kids need to be tech savvy and it is integrated into every class.

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by 4Movingeast

You will be hard pressed to find a school district that has great SPED services that isn't also 1:1. Esp after Covid it's pretty much standard. These kids need to be tech savvy and it is integrated into every class.

Kids will be tech savvy either way. They won't be any more or less tech savvy from having their faces glued to a screen all day instead of actually learning something in class. But to OP's question, there isn't going to be a school in the metroplex, public or private, that won't use tech in high school. We don't have a Waldorf school in DFW (that I know of) and surely even they start using computers in school at some point.

[smileyface123]

I don't mind some computer use at all but using it for EVERY class has been detrimental to my special needs son. The distraction of it for games for one. And how does it make sense to learn math on a laptop and use a stylus instead of with pencil and paper?

[rabbit33]

Originally Posted by smileyface123

I don't mind some computer use at all but using it for EVERY class has been detrimental to my special needs son. The distraction of it for games for one. And how does it make sense to learn math on a laptop and use a stylus instead of with pencil and paper?

Well of course it doesn't make a lick of sense but it's the COMPUUUUUUTER so it must be better.

Keep in mind the educational curriculum industry has to keep churning out new products, even when the subject matter hasn't changed in 300 years (reading, writing, arithmetic).

[texstout]

Originally Posted by smileyface123

I don't mind some computer use at all but using it for EVERY class has been detrimental to my special needs son. The distraction of it for games for one. And how does it make sense to learn math on a laptop and use a stylus instead of with pencil and paper?

I don't think that EVERY class at every school is using it. My son's Geometry Honors, for example, is on paper for the most part. They sometimes have quizes online - but he has a journal that he writes in and I see paper-based assignments. He is in DISD.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Well of course it doesn't make a lick of sense but it's the COMPUUUUUUTER so it must be better.

Keep in mind the educational curriculum industry has to keep churning out new products, even when the subject matter hasn't changed in 300 years (reading, writing, arithmetic).

Reading and writing has changed significantly over the last 300 years. Additionally, depending on how specific one wants to be, you could argue the fundamental base of mathematics at the level that is taught in most K-12 schools has not changed significantly; however, the way one is expected to understand and APPLY has changed quite drastically.

Being able to do math by hand is not a useful skill to many people in today's real world. Understanding it is important. But, otherwise you are expected to understand enough of it to be able to quickly harness available computation tools via software/computers to get to the answer you need. Learning math and how to execute it in a virtual environment as a combined skill is crucial.

One may turn their nose up at the idea based on past experience. But, as an engineer, if you're doing the math via pen and paper, you won't even be close to completing the work on a real-world schedule. I was part of a laptop pilot program in HS 20 years ago. All of my calculus was learned on a laptop. Some of my friends' parents did not let them sign up because they didn't like the idea. When I got into college and the math courses had matlab, excel, and python integrated into the lessons, I was well ahead of students who hadn't learned on a laptop. Peers of mine who had not integrated the two concepts were starting from behind. And the same thing happened when I started working at my first job. I was able to build iterative models where senior engineers were still doing things by hand or barely scratching the surface of what Excel could do (Of course they had much more industry technical knowledge and experience - only talking to the speed to complete a task).

Even as a licensed engineer, the amount of times I've had to do math on pen and paper is extremely limited over my whole career. Yes, you need to understand the fundamentals, but it's more crucial to be able to understand how to remove as much manual process from calculations as possible. I think integrating the tech with the fundamentals is great and I wish I had more of it growing up.

[TheOverdog]

My kids' school in Plano has dialed back the use of chromebooks in elementary school now- they were way overused during COVID and last year, but now it's returning to normal with plenty of course work done with pencil and paper. They still do chromebook homework, but it's not everything any more.

[Leonard123]

My opinion is that schools should have desktops, not laptops, and they should be limited to supervised in-class use.

I'm glad we didn't have laptops when I was in school. I could never do anything with those crappy teeny-tiny keyboards and dreadful touchpads.

Children, and an embarrassing number of adult men, do need to learn handwriting skills though. Paper is also easier on the eyes for reading.