In an article I saw about the Manhattan Beach school district in southern California, it stated that the district was aiming to have an iPad for every student up to middle school by next year. The district sees having the devices as imperative to engaging student interest and providing some skills to prepare them for the future.
They already have bought 560 iPads this year and are looking to buy up to 600 more. The enormous cost of this will possibly be offset by leasing the devices. If the district cannot come up with the funds, 55% of parents have stated that they would not mind letting their children bring their own iPads to school.
I believe in the power of technology and empowering our students with the tools to make them able to shape a better future for themselves and society. Provided that the teachers are using the iPads for presentations, research, and getting immediate feedback on things such as student comprehension or class opinion, I am all for it.
On the other hand, there is the fear that our over-stimulated students are driving their teachers to wit's end and the iPads become a district approved baby-sitter. At my daughter's school there are a few class sets of iPads, but for some reason they have the app Temple Run downloaded onto them. I hate to think that when Friday rolls around and the teacher is tired of hearing "I'm bored" he may pacify the students with the type of mindless entertainment they are wasting their time on at home.
While I do not really think that iPads are the answer to the problems in education, they represent a barrier between the haves and have nots. It is the perception that is most troubling, more than the fact itself. The iPads might be used for eye-opening experiences or to prevent eye-closing tedium, but just the physical presence of such a hot technology in some affluent districts is demoralizing for students in other districts. For low income students who already feel disadvantaged, the iPad represents another barrier to equal opportunity.
Although students in low income areas are making Power Points, doing research on the internet, and doing amazing things with computer design, they are always getting the message that they are the caboose of the train rolling into the future. They are oh so wrong, but they are also right.
In school they ARE getting a quality education, and no iPad or Smart Board is going to take away the fundamental knowledge and skills they acquire. They are right only insomuch as they believe schools are supposed to be fair. Outside of school, low income students know life isn't fair because they feel the pain of want everyday. I don't think they are sad about their lives, but there is a realization there that says they must survive and can't live a certain lifestyle.
Schools are supposed to be the vehicles through which students can correct this. Feeling that they are being left behind raises their self-defeatism, their feeling that "everything" is stacked against them and often they become less engaged in school.
Equity has been a buzz word in education for the last few years. It means that all students are given equal chances to reach their personal potential. In Manhattan Beach, that means that each child gets his or her own iPad to use. In most other areas, it means getting class time a few times a month on the Dell desktops. The reality is that inequity is the inevitable norm for public schools.
Probably because of a combination of forward thinking and better resources, Manhattan Beach enjoys exceptionally high state testing scores, and I cannot fault them for that. If I were in their shoes, I would invest in iPads, too. But when I hear low income students say they feel the system is not fair, I know they are being further indoctrinated into the belief that what they are told and what really happens are two separate things. How we as a country conquer these differences will say a lot about what we value.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_20516912/manhattan-beach-teachers-union-questions-districts-ipad-program?IADID=Search-www.dailybreeze.com-www.dailybreeze.com
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