Minnesotan School Board 'iPads' the Tax Bill

Like a Southern Belle, the iPad 
is pretty, but doesn't do a lot

Most parents want their children's school to better prepare them for the technological world after graduation. But with much of the state still in double digit unemployment numbers, I imagine there are a lot of Minnesotans scratching their heads over this purchase.

The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop School Board approved $265,000 to purchase iPads for the entire school (some 230 iPads). It's not mentioned if this price includes upgrading the school to wi-fi or the training planned. Plus, did the school board even try to get a discount--after all Apple is known for helping to supply schools with their computers. By the way, do they HAVE other Apple computers there? Because I'm pretty sure Windows is not going to be compatible with the iPad and visa versa.

Unfortunately, like with congress having to pass the health-care bill before reading it, it seems the school board wants to get the technology and then figure out how to use it! Educational apps are limited and, while the iPad can hold books, it's not been mentioned if the school's curriculum is going to be available or how much they'll save on the electronic version, if anything. Also not mentioned is if the students ultimately keep the iPad or have to turn it in. One can only wonder how many of these will have to be replaced due to loss, breakage, spilled beverages, theft, etc. Or what they'll do when Apple comes out with their next model. If the iPod is any example, every six months to a year, Apple has found it highly profitable to come out with a new, improved version--often to the consternation of it's users.

In case you don't know exactly what an iPad is or does, here's a quick rundown:

• Although it costs about the same as a modern laptop (starting at $499), an iPad is NOT a laptop/desktop replacement. Think of it as an iPhone on steroids, except you can't make phone calls (or take photos). It has a touch screen which will look wonderful after sticky kid fingers have been all over it.
• You can only run one app at a time, so a student would not be able to read a passage in a book and swap over to a word processor to write a paper without first closing the book. We used to call that type of technology "DOS." The iPad has an (up to) 64GB flash drive and a 1GB CPU so it's no workhorse. Apple is planning to add multitasking in a future version.
• The iPad doesn't run Adobe Flash and seems to have no plans to do so. Adobe is planning to sue Apple over this, which is ridiculous. Apple certainly has the right to run or not run what it wants, but the user is going to find web surfing less than exciting. We use to call that technology "Internet 1996."

In short, it's a cute, geeky toy that doesn't do a whole lot. You can use it to surf the web or read a book (additional costs involved.) Or listen to music, which makes it a big iPod. If they just wanted to get electronic books, they could have bought Kindles, which are priced slightly less and already has a large number of available works. Even Apple fans are making fun of it.

It sounds like the main reason for the purchase was to allow students to avoid carrying backpacks full of books. If lugging several pounds of books to class is a problem, there's a thing called a "locker." I don't know what happened to lockers, but schools don't seem to want to use them any more. Personally, considering we're dealing with high percentages of overweight students, lugging a few pounds of books around is probably a good idea. But students will be able to update their Facebook page in class instead of studying.

No Student Left Untraumatized: School Evacuated Over Science Project

 An 11-year-old San Diego middle school student was left “shaken” and his school evacuated after he brought a home-made science project to school. The student at Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School, whose web page touts a focus on studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, brought a motion detector device he had been building in his garage to show friends. At around 11:40 a.m. the vice principal saw the device, which was made of an “empty half-liter Gatorade bottle with some wires and other electrical components attached” he asked the student about it immediately called the police. He then took the suspect dangerous device into the principal’s office.

When police and Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) responded, they also found (insert dramatic music) “electrical components in the student's backpack.” Imagine—electrical components at a tech school! The student was questioned (without his parents). We don’t know how long he was questioned (without his parents) but at 1 p.m., they decided to evacuate the school and the MAST robot was sent to take pictures and x-rays of the device. Then at 3 p.m., they decided the device was harmless.

Personnel (illegally) confiscated the device and gave the all clear. Describing the parents as doormats very cooperative, they searched their garage (without a warrant) to make sure there was nothing harmful or explosive. (Good thing they didn’t have a can of gasoline for the lawn mower in there!)

The spokesperson for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said the student will not be prosecuted (over a harmless motion detector thingy), but said he violate school polices (regarding independent thinking, obviously.) Authorities then suggested the student and his parents get counseling. Perhaps this is because they were traumatized by law enforcement and idiot vice principals! The spokesperson added he (the student) and his parents were “extremely upset.” Duh!

Great, we probably have one more kid that will never show interest in science again. This administrator has a great future as an airport screener.

New Airport Scanners Breach UK Child Pornography Laws

The UK's Guardian reported late Monday that the full body scanners being tested in the UK and like those planned for the US, are being challenged on the grounds that they breached UK laws against child pornography and cannot be used on those under 18. Under the Protection of Children Act 1978, it is "illegal to create an indecent image or a 'pseudo-image' of a child." I posed a question a few days ago: How many parents are going to want some stranger viewing virtually naked pictures of their child(ren) from these scanners? On the other hand, we know terrorist groups are more than willing to blow up their children as well as ours. And they quickly adapt their strategy...make them take of their shoes and they put the explosives down their pants....

While awaiting a ruling, "voluntary trials" started last month for those 18 and over. One wonders how many actual "volunteers" they could get unless they were offering a choice between a scan and a body cavity search. And the question of whether the machines would be used in a, "lawful and proportionate and sensitive manner based on rational criteria rather than racial or religious bias" has been broached,   thus setting up the protest which will certainly be used by any group or person attempting to smuggle such a weapon.

The expensive, doomed debacle that is the full body scanner slogs on. But there is a glimmer of hope...celebrities:

...concerns were echoed by Simon Davies of Privacy International who said he was sceptical of the privacy safeguards being used in the United States. Although the American system insists on the deletion of the images, he believed scans of celebrities or of people with unusual or freakish body profiles would prove an "irresistible pull" for some employees.

Maybe, just maybe...if those elite jet setters (and even better yet, some politicians) realize they and their families might be in for a little more publicity than they bargained, the idea will be quashed before too many tax dollars are paid out.