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The Wi-Fi On the Bus
theodp writes "For students who endure hundreds of hours on a school bus each year in a desert exurb of Tucson, the Wi-Fi on the bus improves the ride. Last fall, school officials mounted a $200 mobile Internet router from Autonet Mobile to bus No. 92's sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. What began as a hi-tech experiment has had an unexpected result — Wi-Fi has transformed the formerly boisterous bus rides into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared. 'Boys aren't hitting each other, girls are busy, and there's not so much jumping around,' said J. J. Johnson, the Internet Bus driver."
I doubt it.
1-to-10 says they're all on facebook.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Up and down... up and down. the wifi on the bus goes down and then, all peace ends.
"behavioral problems have virtually disappeared" --- well, that depends on what you consider a behavioral problem. I find it healthier for a bunch of kid to be noisy and hyperactive (even if this involves occasionally hitting each other) than to be all hunched down on their 7'' netbooks checking Facebook.
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
Just like good parenting...
Stick a TV/DS/Xbox infront of your kid and they act all perfect.
Can't wait for the virtual elementary school. Just strap your kid to the gurney and put the goggles on 'em.
I know, I know. This is robably a good thing. Kids fighting on a school bus is probably not the safest thing. But on reading the article, I can't help but compare it to medicating a kid so he doesn't run around as much and so he's docile and well behaved and compliant and conforming. That's scary to me.
Over engineering if you ask me. The same result can be accomplished with a roll of duct tape. Silence is golden, duct tape is silver as the saying goes.
Right, because before putting wifi on the bus, there were so many opportunities for learning and self-achievement
If anything, making people shut the fuck up in the bus will help the introspective types that just want to be left alone so they can get some reading done. From personal experience, the most distracting thing about reading in the bus was not trying to read through the bumpiness and the constant starting and stopping. No, the most distracting thing was the guy next to me trying to get into a fight with the dude directly in front of me, reducing my personal space to whatever my eye's shortest focal length could be.
This signature serves no purpose other than to help you see which posts were made by me.
Or the idiot parents that get the DVD player in the minivan. That one blows my mind. "Going to the store kids! pick out a movie for the 5 minute ride!"
wow..... just wow....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The internet is more than just studying. You can take a Wikipedia link hopping trip and see what you learn, you can read the news, you can read and post on Slashdot, and you can go on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter/email. Notice how the first three are educational but without relating to your school subjects and the last two are in fact forms of socializing.
I followed your link, then another link, and found the Illinois law actually says:
So based on that little snippet, it says "an unreasonable period of time" and "without regard for their safety."
And that pretty much leaves it to the judge unless those terms are defined.
I don't think it's unreasonable to leave a 12 year old alone for 3 or 4 hours after school if it's a responsible kid.
I do think it's unreasonable to leave him alone for 3 or 4 days.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.