Re:No surprise really (Score 1)

Parents perspective, some redux. I have watched the laptop program at our private middle/high school for 7 years with 4 kids: ibm/lenovo for 1800-2000 a pop. Despite a good M/R program, needed 6 machines in this time. I observed the following: 1. "rogue dl's" including viruses, worms, trojans etc. No instruction in basic security, backing up, defrag and other simple maintenance. I've had to rescue work files for next day classes with knoppix rescue disk at midnight, remove crap. 2. Many play games or use ebay, myface in class. 3. Powerpoint mentality: reports often are a collage of pictures with some supporting paragraphs. Not much attention to writing style or analysis. Tufte was right. 4. MS products, of course come with the machine, so no open office, gimp, freemat etc. 5. Over 7 years M/R has improved. Some teachers effectively integrate computers into their classes. Some students actually learn to program, appreciate security etc.(not many). Parents have little input into our program and this seems a constant. Ironic since many parents have phd's in computer science or use computers extensively in their jobs ie nasa. Summary. Difficult for a school to implement an effective program, as others point out. Especially if those designing, implementing and managing the program have little experience and depend on ibm. There is certainly a need for citizens with good computer skills short of an IT/CS degree but accomplishing this is not trivial. Disclaimer: Most of what I do is dictate into an EMR every day. I do maintain my computers but certainly am no expert in IT/CS.