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Chicago Mayor Praises Google For Buying Kids Microsoft Surfaces

Posted by timothy on from the non-denominational dept.

theodp (442580) writes "Google earned kudos from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week for teaming up with Staples to fund the projects of 367 of the city's 22,519 public school teachers on "begfunding" site DonorsChoose.org. "Everything that you asked for...every project that the teachers put on to help their students learn, exceed and excel here in the city of Chicago, you now have fully funded," Mayor Emanuel said. "Chicago's hardworking public school teachers are doing all that they can-and more-to support their students, but they need more help," said Rob Biederman, head of Chicago Public Affairs at Google. "We jumped at the chance to join with DonorsChoose.org and Staples to make Chicago's local classroom wishes come true." So what kind of dreams did Google make possible? Ironically, a look at Google Chicago's Giving Page shows that the biggest project funded by Google was to outfit a classroom with 32 Microsoft Surface RT tablets for $12,531, or about 6.5% of the $190,091 Google award. Other big ticket projects funded by Google included $5,931 for a personal home biodiesel kit and $5,552 for a marimba (in the middle of the spectrum was $748 for "Mindfulness Education"). In addition to similar "flash-funding" projects in Atlanta (paper towels!) and the Bay Area, Google and DonorsChoose have also teamed up this year to reward teachers with $400,000 for recruiting girls to learn to code (part of Google's $50 million Made With Code initiative) and an unknown amount for AP STEM teachers who passed Google muster (part of Google's $5 million AP STEM Access grant)."

17 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. No wonder MSFT stock is up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Surface sales must have just doubled!

    1. Re:No wonder MSFT stock is up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      A good way of making sure none of those kids ever use another Microsoft product.

  2. Re: Politician thanks company for doing his job by kenh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Chicago Public School teachers are paid between $50-97K, based on education and time in job, plus pension and healthcare benefits.

    http://www.ctunet.com/for-memb...

    --
    Ken
  3. huh by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The marimba is good .... and maybe the home bio-diesel kit.

    And then there's

    $400,000 for recruiting girls to learn to code

    Because doubling the workforce without doubling the jobs has worked out so great for every other sector of the economy since 1970 or so when it took off.

  4. The kids first comment will be... by blahbooboo · · Score: 5, Funny

    This isn't an ipad? Crap this sucks.

  5. Re:5.5k for a Marimba? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Informative

    How can a Marimba (which from a look at Google is similar to a Xylophone) cost so much money?

    They are very large, professionally made musical instruments.

    Check out the prices for other major musical instruments ... if you want to get any quality, they are not cheap.

  6. Just wondering ... by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just wondering ... but why didn't public schools need to engage in constant fundraising and beg-a-thons in the good old days, for basics? Governments weren't spending more on them then, proportionately.

    We are spending a river now. Where is it going?

  7. Visual Studio RT? by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    outfit a classroom with 32 Microsoft Surface RT tablets for $12,531 [...] $400,000 for recruiting girls to learn to code

    How do these fit together? Since when were programming tools ported to Windows RT?

  8. Teach them how to start a business by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What schools should be teaching is basic entrepreneur skills so that people can create their own jobs after they graduate.

    1. Re:Teach them how to start a business by Rich0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What schools should be teaching is basic entrepreneur skills so that people can create their own jobs after they graduate.

      Skill #1 - be born to parents who can give you enough money to survive until your business makes a profit.

      I think about half of kids in public schools are going to fail to master this one.

  9. do tablets actually help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Last research I heard, a few years back, was that computers in the classroom actually harmed academic performance except in the sole case that the point was to learn about computers, because they were a distraction and also students didn't tend to take longhand notes, which is an important part of learning.

    And if the class is a computer class, tablets seem like the worst possible choice.

    1. Re:do tablets actually help? by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You have that right. People with some experience in that field have been saying it for a long time, and by now there is a scientific foundation to that idea. However you should not forget that this was not about doing something positive for children, but about getting good press. The average person on the streets thinks that computers help academic performance, because the average person on the street has no clue.

      Incidentally, same as this "Made with Code" nonsense. Most people cannot learn to code to any significant degree and many of those remaining cannot learn to code well. Having these people on a project usually results in negative performance by them, i.e. cleaning up the mess they make costs significantly more money that the worth of anything they created. We desperately need fewer people to learn how to code. Instead we need to make sure only those that actually have the required talent learn how to do it professionally. The others cannot get there, no matter what. Coding well is a very advanced skill.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:do tablets actually help? by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Incidentally, same as this "Made with Code" nonsense. Most people cannot learn to code to any significant degree and many of those remaining cannot learn to code well. Having these people on a project usually results in negative performance by them, i.e. cleaning up the mess they make costs significantly more money that the worth of anything they created. We desperately need fewer people to learn how to code. Instead we need to make sure only those that actually have the required talent learn how to do it professionally. The others cannot get there, no matter what.

      It's fine if they don't, and can't. They still need to try to learn, for several reasons.

      The most important reason the masses should take at least one programming class is to learn what a computer is capable of. Most people wouldn't know a for loop if it bit them. If they took a programming class, they would at least learn that computers are good at doing repetitious things, and this is how it's done. They may not ever be able to write a coherent program, but at least they can see what's possible. Most people view computers as the magic talking box with a screen you can touch to make it do stuff. (As opposed to the past several generations who viewed televisions as the magic talking box with knobs you could touch to make it do stuff.) A programming class, even a bonehead programming class, would give people an inkling of what's happening inside the magic box, and maybe, just maybe, get them to ask a programmer for help with automating tasks.

      The second reason is to make people find out, by experience, that programming is hard. Right now there's a pervasive belief that programming must be easy. After all, my cousin's sister's kid does it. How hard can it be? That boy used to shove peas up his nose. Unless people actually try to write a program, they haven't the faintest inkling how difficult it is. Maybe if they try, they'll finally figure out why programmers cost more than MBAs. Or should.

  10. Re:5.5k for a Marimba? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Good instruments cost money. My wife is a professional flutist and her flute cost $65k. I have a low-end trombone that cost $12k.

  11. Re:Politician thanks company for doing his job by wisnoskij · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ya, because a bunch of toys that will distract from coursework and be broken in 2 months are "needed equipment".

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  12. Re: Politician thanks company for doing his job by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would argue the reverse, they are in GENERAL underpaid, but there are definitely some who are NOT underpaid: see Chicago.

    Here is a list of median and starting salaries for teachers. In my state, California, the median is $67k. In my county, Santa Clara, it is $79k. They also receive generous benefits, and summers off. Teachers are paid fairly well compared to other non-technical college graduates.

  13. Re: Politician thanks company for doing his job by quetwo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, then your spouse dosen't know how to account for their time very well.

    When I was teaching, I topped out at $52k a year. This was in the midwest, and the top-paid teacher in the district I think made near $60k.

    We were required to be in the classroom for 990 hours. IF you just count that, 52,000 / 990 = $52/hr.

    But I was required to be in school more than just the kids. This averaged to be 1 hour before they arrived, and 3 after. (4hrs*5days*39weeks) = 780 + 990 = 1770 hours required to be in school. Now, the per-hour figure goes down to just under $30/hr.

    Oh, and if I don't get my grading, lesson plans, meetings, and everything else done in those four hours (I rarely did), then I had to do that as well. Lets be really conservative and say that was only 6 hours a week. 6*39 = 2,004 hours. $25/hr.

    Oddly enough, ~2000 hours is what an average blue-collar worker gets paid for per year, including vacations. $52k is pretty good, but I was also at top-pay. That is what was worked-up to.