[LM_NET] Laptop programs

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

I know some of you folks do not like my pessimism on this, but here is an
article on concerns about lap top programs.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06243/717868-96.stm

Saying no to school laptops
Thursday, August 31, 2006
By Jessica E. Vascellaro, The Wall Street Journal

Last summer, Shawna Adam and her sixth-grade daughter, Abby, eagerly awaited
a back-to-school perk: an Apple Computer Inc. iBook Abby was issued -- for
just $78, because of her financial need -- through Hermosa Drive Elementary
school in Fullerton, Calif.

But after school started, Ms. Adam started to worry. Abby spent class time
sending instant messages to friends and wanted to create a page on
social-networking site MySpace.com. Her standardized writing-test scores
fell, too. So Ms. Adam handed back the computer and pulled her daughter out
of the laptop program, which is this year expanding to five schools. "What
she learned was how to play games and email her friends," says Ms. Adam.
"School was one big happy gabfest."

Ms. Adam is part of a backlash against programs that equip every student in
a classroom with a computer. A few years ago, such programs, which aim to
better engage and train students by giving them round-the-clock computer
access, were introduced in schools across the country -- often with
encouragement from the large computer makers, such as Apple and Dell Inc.,
that win the contracts. But now, some parents and educators are having
second thoughts over higher-than-anticipated costs and the potential for
inappropriate use by kids. At the same time, there is a sense that the
vaunted benefits of constant computer access remain unproven. The programs
are increasingly under attack -- and in a few cases are crumbling.

Nancy
-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Cruelty, Threats, and Distress, a resource for educators, is now available
online at http://cyberbully.org.

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Use the Internet
Safety and Responsibly. Jossey-Bass (forthcoming)

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