News, In Maine, a laptop for every middle-schooler. (Old Town: how much, home)

[JD59]

Although U.S. schools with one-laptop-per-student programs have received mixed results, some educators still view them as taking a front-row seat in the classroom of the future.

Maine, which launched America’s first statewide school laptop program in 2002, has likely made the most progress, showing that giving a student a laptop helps a child learn.

In Maine, a laptop for every middle-schooler - Back to School - MSNBC.com

[dmyankee]

What in the world is the matter with a simple computer lab? You can buy a loaded tower these days for $300 that will last for years.

The kids are already pulling just enough information off the web for only what they need without paying attention to the source. They tend to actually believe everything the see at Wikipedia.

[Submariner]

Our youngest just graduated high school this past spring in Old Town.

I am at a loss to give any one example of a positive result from their exposure to PCs.

A child's time is filled with IM'ing, and oh the photos that our son has gotten from little girls, WOW!

This past year, I have been constantly reminding him to delete those photos.

I recognize many of the faces of young girls, as they send him their photos. But as he turned 18, I was constantly reminding him that nude pictures of every little girl in town amounts to child porn. Even when the girls are sending it.

And we learned that informing the parents of a little 'angel' that their angel is sending photos of herself nude to all of the boys in school, is not a wise gesture to be made between adults.

[Maineah]

My son went through the laptop program from it's conception. Outside of making them use the laptop for homework they really didn't use them a whole lot.
He said 75% of the time they just lugged them around with them and broke them at the parent's expense.
He never liked it all that much and always used the home PC as it was faster and had unlimited web access. The Apples issued to the kids were dumbed down and had limited net access so kids couldn't look at any bikini's (no kidding.... we looked up nuclear tests and it banned the Bikini Island responses!) on line.
I think they would have been better served to provide computers for the year for kids who did not have them and forget issuing every kid a laptop. Let's face it 90% of families have a computer.

[Maineah]

Don't forget to consider the source for the story in the original post. MSNBC. The MS stands for Microsoft!

[Elcarim]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Our youngest just graduated high school this past spring in Old Town.

I am at a loss to give any one example of a positive result from their exposure to PCs.

A child's time is filled with IM'ing, and oh the photos that our son has gotten from little girls, WOW!

This past year, I have been constantly reminding him to delete those photos.

I recognize many of the faces of young girls, as they send him their photos. But as he turned 18, I was constantly reminding him that nude pictures of every little girl in town amounts to child porn. Even when the girls are sending it.

And we learned that informing the parents of a little 'angel' that their angel is sending photos of herself nude to all of the boys in school, is not a wise gesture to be made between adults.

Yep, that's definitely counter productive, not to mention sad!! No wonder the rise in teen pregnancy rates... And where is the parents' involvement and supervision of these girls?

[genmomto5]

Originally Posted by Maineah

My son went through the laptop program from it's conception. Outside of making them use the laptop for homework they really didn't use them a whole lot.
He said 75% of the time they just lugged them around with them and broke them at the parent's expense.
He never liked it all that much and always used the home PC as it was faster and had unlimited web access. The Apples issued to the kids were dumbed down and had limited net access so kids couldn't look at any bikini's (no kidding.... we looked up nuclear tests and it banned the Bikini Island responses!) on line.
I think they would have been better served to provide computers for the year for kids who did not have them and forget issuing every kid a laptop. Let's face it 90% of families have a computer.

Our experience has been similar to yours accept my son did enjoy learning about graphic design with his Mac. We have PC's at home so I am happy they are learning how to navigate a different OS. The worry that will break one of the uninsured parts is real. i am trying to decide whether to allow my daughter to bring hers home this year.

The uniformity of teaching to kids with all the same software and access is a good idea for integrating the technology in to the classroom. But it does seem that a lot of teachers are resisting learning to apply this kind of tool in the classroom. Oh and for goodness sake, couldn't the liberal use of laptops take place of some of the paper crap they bring home. Their back packs do not seem any lighter.

As a parent I'd like to see the focus on tech shifted in to making managing and organizing the students education more accessible for both the parent and the student. If I knew that every assignment they needed to be working on were on a website I'd have a way to combat the "I did my homework at school" or "I didn't have any homework [this year]" stuff. I'll make them do it if I know what it is they have to do but I can't spend hours pulling teeth to figure out what that is. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in Back to School Nights listening to a teacher outline how much homework they will have every week then not follow that plan. So I have these inane conversations with my kids where I'm insisting that they do homework and they are insisting they don't have any. When queried the teacher admits to revising their plan or that it was just a guideline. Then when for whatever reason the kids aren't telling me the truth I can't tell. OK Stopping the rant now.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by genmomto5

Our experience has been similar to yours accept my son did enjoy learning about graphic design with his Mac. We have PC's at home so I am happy they are learning how to navigate a different OS. The worry that will break one of the uninsured parts is real. i am trying to decide whether to allow my daughter to bring hers home this year.

The uniformity of teaching to kids with all the same software and access is a good idea for integrating the technology in to the classroom. But it does seem that a lot of teachers are resisting learning to apply this kind of tool in the classroom. Oh and for goodness sake, couldn't the liberal use of laptops take place of some of the paper crap they bring home. Their back packs do not seem any lighter.

As a parent I'd like to see the focus on tech shifted in to making managing and organizing the students education more accessible for both the parent and the student. If I knew that every assignment they needed to be working on were on a website I'd have a way to combat the "I did my homework at school" or "I didn't have any homework [this year]" stuff. I'll make them do it if I know what it is they have to do but I can't spend hours pulling teeth to figure out what that is. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in Back to School Nights listening to a teacher outline how much homework they will have every week then not follow that plan. So I have these inane conversations with my kids where I'm insisting that they do homework and they are insisting they don't have any. When queried the teacher admits to revising their plan or that it was just a guideline. Then when for whatever reason the kids aren't telling me the truth I can't tell. OK Stopping the rant now.

I was always hammering my kids about homework and they always insisted they did not have any. Then the report would come home and it would seem they were passing in assignments late etc. A couple of months without movies and video games usually set them straight. My daughter graduated High School and last spring from Champlain College so she did something right!
My son graduated *** Laude (evidently CD has the same safety software as the kids laptops as it deletet the C U M from Laude in my post! there's a way to bypass it !!) from High School and we take him to College in about two weeks! The home PC was essential for them in getting through school. The laptop was essential for my Daughter in college and my son has a nice new laptop to start college with. Are they necessary for Junior High school kids??? Not really.

[genmomto5]

Originally Posted by Maineah

I was always hammering my kids about homework and they always insisted they did not have any. Then the report would come home and it would seem they were passing in assignments late etc. A couple of months without movies and video games usually set them straight. My daughter graduated High School and last spring from Champlain College so she did something right!
My son graduated *** Laude (evidently CD has the same safety software as the kids laptops as it deletet the C U M from Laude in my post! there's a way to bypass it !!) from High School and we take him to College in about two weeks! The home PC was essential for them in getting through school. The laptop was essential for my Daughter in college and my son has a nice new laptop to start college with. Are they necessary for Junior High school kids??? Not really.

Ahhh there is hope and a light a the end of the tunnel. Thanks for that.

I think it is funny that the laptops go away for the (what should be at least) more academically rigorous HS years.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by genmomto5

Ahhh there is hope and a light a the end of the tunnel. Thanks for that.

I think it is funny that the laptops go away for the (what should be at least) more academically rigorous HS years.

I found that curious too....why not issue kids laptops when they really need them??? Our kids spent hundreds of hours on the home PC's during High School!