“Cobb County teachers are concerned that a controversial laptop-computer program will create compatibility problems with the system’s current technology and that students won’t take proper care of the machines,” Kristina Torres reports for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “More than 2,500 of Cobb County’s 8,000 teachers responded to the survey about the $70 million program, which proposes to give a laptop to every teacher and every student in grades six through 12. About 1,300 teachers wrote questions or comments in response to an open-ended survey question. The survey was anonymous, but a few teachers signed their names.”
Some teachers “are concerned about mixing Apple laptops with the current PC-based system. ‘I strongly disagree with the decision to purchase Apple laptops when the entire district is already using Windows,’ a teacher wrote, adding later in the comments: ‘Some teachers will not use the new laptops because they simply won’t want to learn a new operating system,'” Torres reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Teachers who don’t want to learn new things should be fired immediately. Sorry for the burst of truth, NEA. The NEA’s Code of Ethics of the Education Profession states: “In fulfillment of the obligation to the student, the educator shall not unreasonably restrain the student from independent action in the pursuit of learning. Shall not unreasonably deny the student’s access to varying points of view. Shall not deliberately suppress or distort subject matter relevant to the student’s progress.” The NEA has been around since 1857; supposedly “working to provide great public schools.” However, U.S. public schools are generally woeful. Is it the National Education Association or the National Education Anchor? Perhaps it’s time America tried something else, something that’s actually effective and improves the nation’s public school system?
Find out why Apple Macs are better than Windows PCs for schools here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Cobb County Georgia meeting discusses plan to equip schools with 63,000 Apple iBooks – February 24, 2005
Report: 90 percent of emails opposed to Georgia’s Apple iBook program – February 10, 2005
65,000 Apple iBooks for Georgia schools one of the largest school laptop programs in the country – February 10, 2005
Georgia school district to propose 63,000 Macs for students and teachers – February 07, 2005
Great take.
“It still moves!”
I somewhat agree with MDN. I don’t think that they should be dismissed out of hand, but any teacher who puts up unreasoning resistance to a new proposal should be immediately subject to a performance review. Hidebound educators who are unwilling to explore new initiatives without reasonable objections, are a danger to students.
The teacher quoted is pathetic. Great take, MDN.
These teachers are setting great examples for their students. Aren’t students encouraged to have open minds? Flip it around to “I don’t want to learn calculus because everybody I know uses simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division” and see what the response of the teachers would be.
How can people in the education system be so narrow minded?
Not wanting to learn a new OS?? I agree with your statement that they should be fired! These are people that are supposed to hep kids broaden their minds and explore new things.
And the statement that mixing the 2 platforms will be imcompatable is pure garbage. They are looking for an excuse to not change and continue to spew more garbage to their students.
finally a take that made me smile. its been a while.
I’m getting my masters in education. i hear this stuff all the time. i just laugh it off. i’ll tell you one thing, there is no way im using a windows pc. they can give me whatever dell or hp piece of shit they want, im still gonna use my trusty ibook.
Most teachers I have had and I went to good schools were border line social deviants. Very selfish people who enjoyed pushing kids around. The last thing they cared about was what was best for the students. Just like the real world, most everybody’s just out for themselves.
Stupid teacher, but not wholly wrong. There are lots of compatibility issues between MacOS and Windows. If they’re not taking a long look at how the machines will want to interact with the existing infrastructure and determining whether they’re gonna play nice, they are dolts.
Not doing it just to avoid learning something new is in fact retarded, but there COULD BE legitimate reasons not to mix OSes.
If there are any regular posters here from the vicinity of Cobb County.. it might help the cause to show these uninformed people the truth about Macs….
Bring an iBook to a meeting, hook it up to the WinBloze network and show them there is nothing to worry about !
Then… let them know that they would be virtually immune to the malware problems accociated with running that virus magnet OS …WinDoze ..
Also .. to drive home the point… there is even a “kids” Browser available which can block access to questionable sites called ..Kids Go Go Go … which can be found at macupdate.com and versiontracker.com ….
Someone needs to inform the uninformed ….. remember… Knowledge is Power !
It’s always something… the unwashed masses..
First Macs are too slow. Apple addresses that. Then it’s Macs are too expensive, Apple addresses that. Now they’re going after compatibility when I guarantee you not a single one, if pressed, could explain exactly what they mean by compatibility or where such problems exist. My guess is that this is politics.
Teachers. Bah. Privitize all education. If I had a kid, I’d want someone teaching them who felt their job depended on performance, not union dues.
Compatibility issues? The only thing that has to be compatible is the file format, and even that is minor. Education, for the most part is not intended to be a collaborative effort. What will they do? Have 50 students write 1 paragraph each of a 10-page report, passing the file from student to student, school to school, till it gets done.
Sometimes I wish the Macs were just forced on them and they had to learn it. Then reason sets in and I know that they would probably just end up resenting them. They’re all just infected with FUD. Now there’s a virus that needs eradicating!!!
MW “building” a better tomorrow…on a Mac.
The question about compatibility should be asked about what software is being used. Is it MS office? Filemaker? A web based solution? But other “compatibility questions are null and void such as Internet Connectivity or security. The Teacher knows not what he is asking and should get a “D” for putting no effort into asking a real question!
And hey, lets not try somthing new, by all means it is a school, when was the last time they added something new that did not involve sports
Magic Word “standard” I hate that word
And people wonder why the American education system is so bad.
Letting the residents of Cobb county know that iBooks are made of a bullet-proof material would probably sway their decision toward the Mac…
http://asbointl.org/member/MembersOnly/newsletter/index.asp?bid=310
Salient quote from above linked article:
“Arasi, a former principal at Walton High School in east Cobb, remembers when tornadoes and school fires were the focus of emergency procedures. Now, under a state-mandated safety plan, each school has a plan for responding to shooting incidents—including designating staff within the school who will coordinate traffic and evacuation of students.”
“Public schools have had a century and a half to prove themselves. From the start, they have been making excuses for why they have been unable to get the job done.”
I used to cover the local school board meetings when I was a cameraman. If you want to see a genuine hotbed of sanctimonious ignorance, then for the love of god go watch a bunch of public school teachers “discuss” an “issue.” Wonder why public education is crumbling? Because the 99% of the people who run it are complete idiots.
Beatsme, I agree with you. But shouldn’t your comment read something like this.
“If you want to see a genuine hotbed of sanctimonious ignorance, Look no further than the american public.”
Oh God… more of the same from MDN and its sheep.
> MacDailyNews Take: Teachers who don’t want to learn new things should be fired immediately.
What a simplistic, and idiotic, thing to say. What if a PE teacher refuses to learn to ride horseback? What if a English teacher refuses to learn to split atoms?
Or hmmm… what if teachers are already bogged down with teaching your kids that adding any more of burden makes them less efficient and successful in their work?
—
That being said, I’m trying to convince my sister to switch to a Mac. Her son – my nephew – adds so much to their computer that it constantly has problems.
I just happen to hate stupid reviews and commentary on this site and all the sheepish opinions that follow.
Oh God… more of the same from MDN and its sheep.
> MacDailyNews Take: Teachers who don’t want to learn new things should be fired immediately.
What a simplistic, and idiotic, thing to say. What if a PE teacher refuses to learn to ride horseback? What if a English teacher refuses to learn to split atoms?
Or hmmm… what if teachers are already bogged down with teaching your kids that adding any more of burden makes them less efficient and successful in their work?
—
That being said, I’m trying to convince my sister to switch to a Mac. Her son – my nephew – adds so much to their computer that it constantly has problems.
I just happen to hate stupid reviews and commentary on this site and all the sheepish opinions that follow.
Oh God… more of the same from MDN and its sheep.
> MacDailyNews Take: Teachers who don’t want to learn new things should be fired immediately.
What a simplistic, and idiotic, thing to say. What if a PE teacher refuses to learn to ride horseback? What if a English teacher refuses to learn to split atoms?
Or hmmm… what if teachers are already bogged down with teaching your kids that adding any more of burden makes them less efficient and successful in their work?
—
That being said, I’m trying to convince my sister to switch to a Mac. Her son – my nephew – adds so much to their computer that it constantly has problems.
I just happen to hate stupid reviews and commentary on this site and all the sheepish opinions that follow.
M&PCG;,
Can NEA union members be any less efficient and more unsuccessful in their work?
>MDN also wrote: Perhaps it’s time America tried something else, something that’s actually effective and improves the nation’s public school system?
—
A more effective approach that has worked for my family:
Turn off the TV. Sit down with your kids and study with them. They’re your kids; they’re your responsibility!
The American culture is great at pointing fingers at someone else. We blame race. We blame biased tests. We blame the public school system.
The primary fix to education – a more active and involved family.
—
Good computers would be helpful, but not a core solution.
>MDN also wrote: Perhaps it’s time America tried something else, something that’s actually effective and improves the nation’s public school system?
—
A more effective approach that has worked for my family:
Turn off the TV. Sit down with your kids and study with them. They’re your kids; they’re your responsibility!
The American culture is great at pointing fingers at someone else. We blame race. We blame biased tests. We blame the public school system.
The primary fix to education – a more active and involved family.
—
Good computers would be helpful, but not a core solution.
>MDN also wrote: Perhaps it’s time America tried something else, something that’s actually effective and improves the nation’s public school system?
—
A more effective approach that has worked for my family:
Turn off the TV. Sit down with your kids and study with them. They’re your kids; they’re your responsibility!
The American culture is great at pointing fingers at someone else. We blame race. We blame biased tests. We blame the public school system.
The primary fix to education – a more active and involved family.
—
Good computers would be helpful, but not a core solution.