Even the most stupid politicians know the only way to ensure they get their fair share of kickbacks is to spend taxpayer money on stuff they don’t need, and to make sure they build in a generous overepayment.
That way the suppliers have enough excess profits to finance generous payoffs and kickbacks cleverly disguised as legal financial contributions to election campaigns.
My bet is that nearly half of the I-pads will be broken, stolen or sold within the first week. I-pads are great, but putting them in the hands of kids is inviting disaster. Our local school district is trying the same thing and I’m sure there will be similar results with a large number broken, stolen or sold in the first few weeks.
And, when they get OUT of school; only having APPLE products will satisfy them!
I've seen the effect in RICH kids coming out of school!
Apple folks were no dummies; hooking the kids on THEIR products while malleable, and enticing the powers that be with...
They’ll then come back to the trough for brick and mortar construction projects that they didn’t fund because they did this. Sort of like the stimulus that was supposed to rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
So, the school was built. State of the art. LCD screens lining the hallways, classrooms and offices wired completely for LAN and wireless, high res ceiling mounted digital projectors, a brand new computer lab with 30 Macs, wireless printers and surveillance cameras inside and out. It actually has the look and feel of a minimum security prison, which in reality, is what it is. Just conditioning the up and coming generation for the brave new world.
The school was completed just as the school year ended. Most teachers were transferred from other schools, including my wife, to staff it at the end of the school year. New hires were too costly since the money was spent on the construction and gizmos. Other schools in the district suffered from teacher shortages as a result.
Three weeks prior to start of the new school year the district brought the new school staff in to sign for their individual Apple laptops and iPads. They conducted a day of training, which was nothing more than a glorified marketing event put on by the Apple reps.
So, now with two weeks left until go time, the untrained teaching staff had to build lesson plans using unfamiliar software on unfamiliar platforms and become up to speed enough to train kids on how to use their individually provided iPads for everyday classroom activity and study.
Predictably, chaos ensued when the kids showed up. Imagine 800 6-8th graders with iPads in their hands on a daily basis being supervised by teachers who had less technical knowledge and experience than they did.. Lots of game playing, texting, video recording...schoolwork, not so much. Many were broken, lost, stolen or misused by students or other family members. About 30% of the students were illegals from Mexico. Guess where their iPads ended up?
Of course, the district declared an unqualified success at the end of that first year, and another 1,000+ iPads were purchased to use at the high school. That is how you roll as a self validating empire known as a public school district.
In San Diego Unified they had a plan. Give Chargers football tix to all the “poor” kids.
My friend, a teacher there, got lots of tix. I got to go to Chargers games for free with him and his teacher buddies.
I wonder how many teachers and their kids will end up with free ipads as well.
Not that the system is corrupt or anything...
The town of Shrewsbury, MA, tried this. Last year the town bought an iPad for every middle school student and staff. The results are in. Zero increase in academic achievement but a 400% increase in internet traffic, with many parts of the town unable to access the wireless internet during the peak use.
-PJ
Nothing like seeding the next generation with a need for computerized KGB minders, they'll carry government eyes and ears around with them for the rest of their lives.
Leftist thinking.
Poor oppressed kids don’t have ipads.
Evil oppressor kids do.
Solution:
Take money from evil oppressors and buy ipads for poor oppressed kids.
When poor oppressed kids use ipads as frisbees, and to surf garbage, buy them all a new ipad.
This is not one of those occasion.
Maybe high school kids in a good school in advanced classes who are responsible...
It’s ipads now, it’ll be something else next. It’s not about what lie they tell, it’s about separating the American middle-class from his hard-earned cash and redistributing it to worthless losers who will vote for the thieves.