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Tech Giants Donate $750 Million In Goods and Services To Underprivileged Schools
mrspoonsi sends news that a group of major tech companies has combined to donate $750 million worth of gadgets and services to students in 114 schools across the U.S. Apple is sending out $100 million worth of iPads, MacBooks, and other products. O'Reilly Media is making $100 million worth of educational content available for free. Microsoft and Autodesk are discounting software, while Sprint and AT&T are offering free wireless service. This is part of the ConnectED Initiative, a project announced by the Obama Administration last year to bring modern technology to K-12 classrooms. The FCC has also earmarked $2 billion to improve internet connectivity in schools and libraries over the next two years. Obama also plans to seek funding for training teachers to utilize this infusion of technology.
So, Apple's donating stuff which costs them money to make (hardware). O'Reilly is giving stuff which doesn't cost them much, if anything (incremental cost). Kudos for that freebie, but Microsoft and Autodesk are likely making a profit with a "discount" on things with virtually no incremental cost. They probably consider it like advertising - they expect to make even more from future sales. Sprint and ATT are somewhere in between.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I remember back in the 80s with Apple IIes everywhere. I liked my c64 at home, but Apple IIe were maybe the first computer some kids could put their hands on. Since I was just a kid, I didn't appreciate that at the time. So instead of being a mentor to lift other people up in their computer skills, I just wanted to play what little games there were and program little programs. I think a lot of us might have so much computer skills in relation to others that we don't give a first thought to just hosting a class in the local library. I'm sure a lot of us could help people not get scammed as easily on the Internet at least. Or maybe someone could make aps for education.
I waxed philosophical on maybe we should teach more over just using ourselves, but Apple has a long history of donating tons of computers. Whether or not you think it was a smart move to invest in their own future, it definitely put computers in kids hands who maybe never touched one before.
God spoke to me
Apple is giving away HARDWARE and Microsoft is offering a discount on software.
I'd be ashamed to work for Microsoft right now.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I don't get it. Why not tax corporations properly and legislate against their exploitation of tax havens? With more government revenue you can properly fund the education system without having to rely on the condescension of corporate largess. The G-20 is meeting soon. Sounds like an ideal time to reform international tax law.
The theft is Microsoft discounting software. That really stinks as a donation.
Like fucking drug dealers. May they people who do this die young from painful cancer.
PS. I don't use Apple nor Microsoft products.
How about we just have Apple (and many other mega-companies) pay taxes at a reasonable rate then we won't need to fund education from "charity" (plus don't forget that the $100M is tax deductable, so it part of another tax loophole. Details here: http://www.americansfortaxfair...
And teachers.
If you really have to deploy technology then make it something like a Raspberry Pi. Low theft risk. Easy replacement. And $750 million will buy a lot of them AND books, paper, pencils, teachers, etc.
Wasn't there a recent story about how some schools could not afford the text books with the answers that went with the standardized tests?
The politician in question isn't up for election.
Better poor people have nothing then eh.
Best we take their houses away, people might break into them.
These gifts and grants are nice, but without long-term funding of support staff this is what happens:
http://www.njspotlight.com/sto...
You can't simply push tons of technology into schools and forget about it. The "light the fuse and run" approach never works. You need a staff of technology people who will train staff, maintain and repair the tech, and integrate the technology into the curriculum.
Without adequate support, these systems will simply collect dust and end up in a storage locker.
So the tech giants are donating ALMOST as much as the clownface Ballmer receives in tax breaks from purchasing a sports team? Great job guys! Let us gather and praise the fractions of tax deductible gifts which pale in comparison to the profits earned by manufacturing in poverty stricken countries and shirking domestic tax responsibilities, because it is the only salvation to clean you're otherwise amoral-yet-wretched corporate souls.
This will just make them attractive targets for theft.
You could make the same cynical and nihilistic comment about anything given to these kids. Better computers? They will just get stolen. Better books? Those will get stolen too. Better classrooms? Target for vandalism. That way you can criticize anyone who does anything, and feel superior about doing nothing.
That's just over 6.5 million per school. Think how small the class sizes would be with that type of money.
Can you cite any peer reviewed controlled studies that show that "smaller classes" improve student performance in any measurable way?
That smaller classes are "better" is something that everybody "knows", but you would be astonished at how little actual evidence there is. The few studies that have been done have produced mixed results. Kids from disadvantaged backgrounds can benefit in early grades. But brighter kids actually do worse in smaller classes, since it is harder for them to read ahead rather than follow along at the pace of the slowest kid. Some studies have found that much of the benefit is not that the classes are smaller, but that they are quieter. So some soundproofing might do more good than hiring more teachers.
The best performing schools in the world are in East Asian countries such as South Korea, Singapore, and some cities in China. They typically have class sizes more than twice that in America.
They could pay German or Finnish levels of taxes, so that we could fund schools and pay teachers at German or Finnish levels.
America already spends more per student than either Germany or Finland. Only Norway and Switzerland spend more. But both of those countries have overvalued currencies, and would spend less than America if calculated at PPP.
An iPad probably has a bit higher black-market value than a textbook on High School chemistry.
So the best solution is to have neither? Look, Apple is offering to donate iPads. They are NOT offering to donate chemistry textbooks. I don't see you offering to donate them either. So pretending that by turning down the iPads, we are going to magically get chemistry textbooks is just silly. The choice is not "iPads vs Chemistry Textbooks", it is "iPads vs Nothing". To say that "nothing" is better, because the iPads will just get stolen anyway, is just a cynical rationalization by people that want to feel smug and superior, criticizing these donors, while doing absolutely nothing themselves.
No. The best solution, as I have stated, is to have the books needed to pass the standardized tests.
And that is the problem. By donating the iPads, Apple gets a tax write-off and the schools end up with broken/stolen tech that ate up resources.
a. Apple could pay their taxes and the government could use that money to buy those books.
b. Apple could donate those books INSTEAD of the iPads.
c. Apple could donate a portion of the proceeds of selling those iPads.
Why isn't Apple working on getting the books that would cost a lot LESS than those iPads? Because Apple is looking out for Apple. And using those kids as PR.
I've just given you three scenarios that would be better.
You are the one claiming that Apple's only option is to donate iPads.
Cutting our spending down to those levels might work. All of the countries that get better results than us do spend less.
http://data.worldbank.org/indi...
I noticed one difference between US public schools vs schools that work. When my step-daughters were in elementary school, there were three weeks out of five that were "special". The first week was Mexican culture week and they spent their time singing Mexican songs, making Mexican food, and learning Mexican dances. That was enriching, perhaps. A couple of weeks later was black history, and then "world diversity " or something. That's all fine and well, I understand the value of such things. I strongly suspect, though that Japanese students spent those weeks learning reading , writing and arithmetic. My stepdaughter can make enchiladas, but can't read so well. A good trade?
We could fund them similarly to the way they are funded in countries that get good results. Details here:
http://data.worldbank.org/indi...
Somebody lied to you.
http://data.worldbank.org/indi...
You'll notice that the US spends more than practically any country, and gets among the worst results. If you look at our own spending over time vs results, again you'll see that as budgets have increased, results have gotten worse. Spending more to do more of the wrong thing doesn't help.
The school should sell the hardware immediately at 80 percent of the retail price and buy books.
1. The terms of the donation almost certainly prohibit that.
2. When someone makes a donation worth millions to your cause, spitting in their face is generally not the best way to encourage future donations.