[kuklachica]

In our schools, technology definitely has not taken away conventional teaching practices (which in some cases are suspect anyway), but rather enhanced them. Middle school teachers here in ME have already had 7 years to form their curriculum with integrated technology. This program has been tried in other states, but has only been successful in ME for some reason. The schools get white MBs, usually with lower specs than are offered on the website, and at a much lower, bulk-rate cost. Yes, a lot of money goes into the computers and their upkeep, but no matter how much money we put into the public education system (whether it be for technology or teacher pay) it is still way behind the rest of the world. So the issue really isn't the money, or the technology, that leads to poor education, but rather the philosophy behind public education. Short of having a huge society-large change in a pedagogical philosophy, the laptop program here has improved educational experiences for the students.