One school district in Auburn, Maine has recently decided to provide all its kindergarteners with a brand new iPad 2 starting next year. The school district is a rather small one - with only six elementary schools to cater to. However, the decision will still cost the school system about $200,000 each year.
Now those are the technicalities of it, but what is the true practicality of giving 5-year olds $500 high-tech tablets? Perhaps its a bit of jealousy that 5-year olds will receive for free such a highly coveted piece of machinery, but I have some serious doubts about how useful the tablets will be for the kids and how long they would even last in the hands of a 5-year old. Also, after doing some more reading about the school district, I found that the school system is having some budgetary restraints. In that case, is $200,000 really best spent on iPads for kindergarteners? I agree that the technology could prove to be useful to the education of these kids, but I also see no problem with the current system of using note cards, colorful signs, black boards, and books to teach young kids, so to me, it seems like an unjustified investment. Sure a shiny new iPad for every 5-year old sounds great, but is it really necessary? I don't think so.
No comments:
Post a Comment