Students in Maine get laptops
Students in Maine get laptops
The state that was first to provide laptops to every seventh and eighth grader in its public schools is taking its campaign to the high schools, and Maine's top education official vowed Thursday that every high school student will have a laptop computer within two years.
The 67,000 computers currently being distributed at more than half of the high schools will give students the skills they'll need to compete in the workplace, said Don Siviski, superintendent of Regional School Unit 2.
"The competitive world that these students are going to be engaged in — it isn't only the United States, the Northeast or Maine. Their competitors are going to be all over the world. They need to be savvy," he said. "Schools need to join the 21st century to prepare these kids for that world."
Under a four-year, $64 million lease, Apple Inc. will provide each student with an Apple MacBook with a 13-inch screen, 160-gigabyte hard drive, built-in camera and a full slate of software, as well as wireless routers, tech support and warranty repairs. The cost is $240 per year per computer.
Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron wanted to expand the program into all of the state's 119 public high schools, but had to settle with participation from only 64 this fall. The narrow window for high schools to sign onto the program over the summer and the nation's economic turmoil prevented full participation, she said.
Still, Gendron said, Maine's program — the first statewide program to provide laptops to students — is also the nation's largest. The students are allowed to take the computers home, but don't own them. The laptops have to be returned to the school in the spring.
"Our young people really are digital natives," she said. "We don't want them to unplug when they come to school."
On Thursday, 10 students at Hall-Dale High School looked over some of the laptops that will be handed out over the coming weeks. They quickly began putting the laptops through the paces, creating comic strips and Andy Warhol-style photos with the built-in camera.
Unlike most high schools, Hall-Dale already issued laptops to its students. So the Apple MacBooks will replace the older laptops at the school.
Michael Reinhard, a 17-year-old high school senior, said he used to type reports in the sixth grade and it is hard to imagine going back to a typewriter. By contrast, he was asked as a high school sophomore to produce a podcast on German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
"Everyone tells me that education is supposed to be creative. I've never seen more creative projects for education than with these MacBooks," he said.
The laptop program began under Gov. Angus King, who wanted to eliminate the so-called "digital divide" between wealthy and poor kids.
Maine started the first-in-the-nation program by distributing more than 30,000 computers to every seventh- and eighth-grader in the state's public schools in 2002 and 2003.
The state still pays for the laptops for middle schoolers, but school districts were asked to share the cost for high school laptops.
The state provides each district with $289 per student for technology, but some districts were already using the money in other ways. Superintendents, then, were able to use federal stimulus funding, grants, bonds and other means of funding the program.
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- Posted on September 8, 2009
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They are lucky to be able to keep the laptops. My school is somewhat like that but we get iPads. We do not get to keep them and we have to pay 40$ for them.
This is a great idea for people who can do their homework on the go or at home. This also works for people who don't have computers or any internet service at home. Before apple gives them away I think they should put locks on application so the students who are studying don't start playing games. But if the laptops are only going to be used for homework, a student can rent the laptop and not use it as a source for help.
This is the best thing I have ever read. I wish my school did this. It would make work and class so much easier. It would let us make projets thriugh the webcam and if we don,t have a printer we could just whip out the labtop and print it from school.
Wow all of them get mac laptops? I really wish my school did that. It would really help people who can't print things at home and have to come in after school.
“The state that was first to provide laptops to every seventh and eighth grader...”
Cool! I mean that's all I ever wanted, my own laptop provided by someone else now that's a dream come true especially for me. Because if you know me then you’d know that I love computers more than anything. I spend my life on those things because of all the possibilities you can do on one. You could do school work quicker; listen to your favourite music; play an endless amount of online games, check out places of the world with Google Maps, and most importantly keep in touch with your family and friends. “The 67,000 computers currently being distributed...” Wow! That's a lot of computers. I mean just think of how long those people have to work to make every single one. Over and over 1 by 1, by 1, by 1, or maybe they did it by machines. Ah heck I don’t know, all I know is that’s a lot of computers to make regardless of what/who made them. “Under a 4-year $64 million lease, Apple Inc.” Another WOW! $64 million big ones! that's way more then the last number. I mean that's a lot of money for 67,000 laptops that's like 1 million for each one. Just imagine what you could do with that money. First, I would buy my own house. Then I would buy a computer with the fastest internet and biggest screen. Also, I would buy the biggest flat screen T-V money can buy. And finally I would buy a PS-3 with every game they ever made for it. Ah... now that's the life I hope to live one day.
that is cool!!! but we have labtops at my school witch is.. Fulks Run Elementry School...Im in 5 grade.. but we just use it for math and school work. LOL
This is a great idea, I believe this should be true for all schools across the united states, we are all about new technology and making it apart of school use, but this is one thing we lack. I believe every student should get a laptop for school so that everything could be done through it, like for example lesson plans, notes, projects and all sorts of other things. The first step in making this happen is requiring all students take typing classes so that they can type really fast. One reason this would be efficient would be that it takes away the use of paper all the time for notes, packets etc.. and we would be considered "going green". This in my eyes would be one of the best things they did for teaching and school purposes.
I think schools should give laptops to every student just to use during school. It would be a lot more helpful than having to write reports or do research on your own if you dont have your own computer at home. Also, using laptops in classrooms would help teachers create a new learning style instead of handwriting everything.
Having a brand new Apple laptop would be awesome to own. I wish my school would give out free laptops to everyone in the school.
Having a computer would be really fun! Although you may not be able to do all the things helpful in text books that you can do on computers, computers can become a distraction and become the opposite of what Don Siviski (superintendent of Regional School Unit 2) wants. Don Siviski said that the ebooks would get students prepared for life, but that cant happen when students could be playing games, listening to music, or doing other things that have nothing to do with the lesson teachers assign. I still would like ebooks at my school even though they are a distraction.