Friday, April 15, 2011

iPads for Kindergardeners: "More Important Than A Book

Posted For


Sandra in Brevard






Auburn, Maine Superintendent Tom Morrill believes iPads are an essential tool for Kindergarden learning at a total cost of $200,000. Apple offered a special deal of $475 for each iPad and Superintendent Morrill will look at the budget and grants to fund this "essential to that is even more important than a book."

Not everyone agrees. Auburn school parent Nicole Fortin said: “It’s crazy! I look at all of the budgetary restraints we have. Our school system loses money every year to certain things. This is a lot to put in the hands of a 5-year-old.”

Watch the report here:





http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2011/04/08/dnt.me.ipad.kindergarten.wgme.html


http://www.reviewsofelectronics.com/ipad-2-to-become-teaching-tool/228470/
 
 Read all of Sandra's Blogs at Grumpy Educators


Avatar: http://www.clipartheaven.com/
 
 
Grumpy Note;

It's safer than giving a 15 year old the keys to a Vett, the IPad isn't likely to kill them.  Property damage is another story, it's likely to kill the taxpayers. If a district hands out a thousand of these things to four and five year olds in September, how many will be lost, left out in the rain, or in the driveway, thrown out car windows or otherwise destoyed by June....





They are wonderful, they are cute, they are little kids  Little kids break things, you don't give them $500.00 toys.

6 comments:

  1. We might be looking at this wrong...

    Once stuff like this starts everyone has to try it... Has to be 5,000,000 kids a year going into kindergarten.... thats 2.5 billion before you get into replacing and repairing lost and damaged units... as well as companion sales.

    Someone is going to make a lot of money

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most kids are going to learn how to use a computer anyway- at home. Most of that is going to be on nonsense.

    It's a good thing to teach them about the positive things that a computer can do, but fundamentals like books are what they need when they are that young. Books are the building blocks for every other aspect of a good education.

    It's a fact that kids who love to read books will read more as kids and adults. That is what will make them more educated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The ONLY bright side to the above: They are not (so far) giving condoms to Kindergartners. Although, they will be able to cruise porn on the iPads so this might be the next logical step.

    It's interesting that they settled on the iPad platform. With so many pc-based tablet computers out there I guess that Apple wants to corner the market for the next, um, 75 years or so.

    Just found this really wickedly applicable quote from Uncle Karl (Marx):

    "The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense."

    Somewhere in the back of my head the ladies are singing the 'Look for the Union Label' song...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Apple did the same thing back in the 80's and 90's. They donated desk top's to all the schools. My niece was 15yrs old and didn't know how to boot a computer. I told her to "type WIN at the c prompt" she didn't have a clue. (does that make me old)

    Great Mike, now I won't be able to get that song out of my head.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Superintendent doesn't have the money for the purchase but says until his retirement this June, he will look for the money in the budget, through fundraisers, and grants (maybe the Gates Foundation has some extra cash?). Wouldn't crayons be cheaper and a better use of taxpayer's dollars? Not against computers in the schools, great for research, but 5 year olds? The community disagrees with the decision.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just found this really wickedly applicable quote from Uncle Karl (Marx):

    "The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense."
    _________

    Why does that seem to fit in sooo nicely with Obama's plans to centralize the testing, and bu extension, the curriculum...

    Sandra just located some of the informtion the goverment is interested in having on a students centralized record.... I won't give it all away, but do they need voting records?

    ReplyDelete

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