Knoxville High School Makes iPads Mandatory

[inthere]

The school is forcing the kids to all use the same brand because you don't want to run into a situation where a book is available on one tablet and unavailable on another........come on people, it's not rocket science. There may also be specific apps that they want run, with everyone having the same hardware that's no longer a problem.

Why the iPad? Sure there may be a couple of superior specced tablets out there, but the iPad had a huge head start on the competition and has already been established as stable. Audiobooks and podcasts can also be easily obtained through iTunes, which is also more established than any competing tech.

 

[digitalvampire]

ROFL, from the almost unanimous negative posts here, it's apparent they didn't consult anyone about this decision, at least not someone in the technology field.

 

[theshonen8899]

Makes sense, iPad is designed for people with the technological prowess of a grade schooler.

 

[firebee1991]

[citation][nom]xrodney[/nom]This is ridiculous, iPad s far away from being trend, it have too small small share in notebook market for that. Personally if my child is on that school and they raise this requirements I would be more then wiling to sue them.Also Steve is not going see single penny from me because there are often better or cheaper options and more user friendly business models.There is nothing wrong from requiring students to have notebook or ebook reader, but forcing you to use single brand is not right.[/citation]

This isn't a public school. It's a private school, probably full of rich kids who would be more than happy to try and look cool by having an iPad instead of textbooks. If the parents don't like it, they can send them to public school like everyone else.

 

[falchard]

Apple is usually the comp that makes it into schools. Nothing describes our education system better then education on a product that only services 5% of the market.

I think replacing text books can be a good idea. Less trees destroyed, less back injuries, and more prepared students. However there are some issues with the iPad as a replacement. Mainly in the general lack of support outside of basic entertainment. Also what about the children on the military track who benefit walking a mile to school with a 50 pound backpack?

 

[joytech22]

Wow what a stupid idea!

My Highschool give free netbooks to the year 9 students and when they finish school they get to keep them!

 

[inthere]

ANYONE in the technology field with an ounce of sense would have recommended the iPad over any other tablet or ebook reader.

A. ITunes has the largest documentary and audio book collection by far. It also has the largest legal movie collection.
B.The iPad is superior to any eBook reader because of its internet and multimedia capabilities. iBooks has a huge book catalog plus Kindle is an iPad app that gives you access to their entire catalog. IPad has calculator apps, and you can also take notes on your iPad in class.
C. No competing tablets are established as stable yet (Android OS not ready for tablets yet, Windows 7 too young).
D. With iPad, you're sure everyone is on the same hardware, will download the same books, same apps, and same films. Everyone being on the same hardware is crucial in a school environment. With that in mind, no other tablet has established itself as a permanent product; you don't know if the product is here to stay for awhile or not. Google discontinuing the Nexus One did no favors for the Android OS.

 

[Blueridge]

The world does not cease to amaze me... and I don not mean it always in a positive way.

Ipad? Why? Why not Kindle? Since we're talking about text books replacement, my point is that kindle, or a similar E-ink device if far better, especially for children. Les stress on the eyes...

Call me what you will, but reading an actual book, is far better that reading it off a LCD screen... I'm 29 years old... no matter how hard I try to keep my documents in electronic format only, I always find myself printing them after several attempts of reading long documents off the screen...

And again... as a child, I had to carry a heavy backpack, let's say 20pounds (~8..9Kg)... but 60 pounds (~27Kg)? My father used to march in the army with such a backpack on his back! Can a child even lift this kind of backpack, let alone carry it? I guess the problem is somewhere else. Who ever agrees to publish textbooks as heavy as a brick knowing that is going to end-up in a child's backpack, has a serious issue...or may I say that his focus is just to make money...

Anyway... somethings very wrong when a child ends up carrying 50 to 60 pounds of textbooks with him... And the Ipad or any other electronic device is clearly not a solution... Some users already made good arguments why...

Books will never go out of fashion, will never become incompatible with your new gadget, will never use an obsolete file format that no reader will be able to use 10 years from now... etc...

 

[nebun]

Though the school is making the device a requirement, it seems they’re not oblivious to the fact that the iPad isn’t exactly cheap.
ok, they are going to private school, i think that their parents can afford an ipad

 

[rantoc]

[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]Apple is usually the comp that makes it into schools. Nothing describes our education system better then education on a product that only services 5% of the market.I think replacing text books can be a good idea. Less trees destroyed, less back injuries, and more prepared students. [/citation]

I would not value a few hurt-backs/some cut trees before all the suicides due to the horrid working conditions at the Foxxcon factories and all the dead for what? To make the already wealthy companies be able to put some more money to the shareholders bank account and divide a generous bonus for a "work well done". If they were fairly produced they would cost a few dollar more (or the overly greedy companies would earn a few dollar less but knowing their merchandise would be created without drawing blood and creating grief).

Guess its just me who don't like to promote slave like working conditions judging by the number of units sold...

 

[inthere]

Sucks for you then that you'll never buy another computer, because the overwhelming majority of computer and video game parts are manufactured in the Far East, and if you want to delude yourself into believing that they're not being made in sweatshops just as bad as Foxxcon(Apple, Sony) and KYE (Microsoft) just because a report hasn't been done on them yet then fine.

Just remember that all of these companies have competitive pricing for a reason, and if they were on the up-and-up with working conditions and fair pay, we wouldn't need them and we'd hire american workers again.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Lot's of negative remarks and opinions here. I'd like to read the school's reason for choosing the iPAD.

 

[house70]

Wow, that's a stupid move...
But again, at least the students won't be able to play any good dames o n it... someone at the school board must have thought about preventing students from gaming during class and they came up with the only tablet that can not do any gaming.

 

[Guest]

We've done something similar in one of my old workplaces and it was effective. However, we used a generic Tablet PC. Nowadays it would be better to use an EReader like the Nook/Kindle/Sony Reader. These are more versatile and easier to maintain and control in-class content.

 

[bv90andy]

WTF? why iPad? what a waste? for books they could have just introduced something cheaper whit no HD video capabilities and stuff like that. ALso reading from an Ipad for 8 hours is bad for ya

 

[Guest]

I wouldn't trust a 10 year old with an iPad for a year.

 

[snurp85]

First off, this is complete BS...
school have always provided books free of charge to students.that is after all, what we pay taxes for. Kids have lockers and can store their books there. Granted they still have to carry the books to and from school, but so what. Carrying the books will be good for them in this day and age where their idea of exercise is playing wii fit. It will make them use their muscles for a change. Not to mention every generation before now has carried the heavy book loads with no drastic consequences.

i honestly dont see how the school can force this upon its students.

 

[wonspur]

My school tried something similar with mac laptops.. our IT department was so deficient when it came to macs but out windows laptops were always rock solid. but we only had 20 of those and 100 apple laptops.. it was dumb. and for some reason the macs always smelled like someone just wiped the sweat off themselves with it.

 

[RobinPanties]

Great, so now instead of actually learning, kids can play Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Paper Toss all day long... good idea... they should've "allowed" Kindles or something strictly e-paper/reader...

 

[extremepcs]

Good Lord... Get them Kindles or something similar if you're looking to replace books. Less than half the price. I'd be one very vocal parent at the school board meetings.