One Lucky Son

Last week my 12 year old had a note from his school stating that all of the 6th graders (210 of them) were chosen for a pilot program where each kid gets a take home computer. Well my wife and I just got back from a meeting in regard to the take home computers and each one of them is getting a MacBook 1.8 ghz that is theirs for the next 3 years. All of their books, are loaded in a .pdf format. Along with a bunch of other software. Also, each MacBook is chipped so if they are stolen and somebody gets on the internet with it the unit can be traced, hmmm, I wonder how?

And to think when I was in school getting a calculator was a big thing, lucky kid.

That is awesome.. What school does he go to and where? Ill be there bright and early ready to get my computer. I should be able to pass as a 12 year old. 6'7" 230 not a problem!!!

How cool! He is one lucky boy. We got to use iBooks in highschool but never take them home, let alone for 3 years!

Wow, we were allowed to use laptops in school that we rented from the library, but they were really old things..not nice Macbooks!

I was blown away, I thought, well with the new MacBooks coming out they would get some left over iBooks, but when the lady handed out the info and then went through the PowerPoint presentation (all done from a MacBook Pro) I realized they were getting MacBooks.

If you can find that chip, and are quite handy at making things out of papier mache, I sense a permanent addition of a Macbook in your home...

That's crazy. I hope programs like this are standard nation-wide in about 15 years when I have a kid that is your son's age.

iSebastianGrey said:

If you can find that chip, and are quite handy at making things out of papier mache, I sense a permanent addition of a Macbook in your home...

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Ah, I think I'll pass on that one. Everyone of these MacBooks have been registered with our local law enforcement and on the bottom of each of them is a laser etching that has the school name and school district. I was able to look at one of the MacBooks and the etching looks like what they have on a Visa card. Here is another interesting thing, even though the units have Safari and Firefox installed and they can surf the web, you cannot download any software, all downloading is blocked.

Well with that sort of investment, I can't say I blame them for all the added security. This can't be a public school, unless your state has some sort of amazing education budgeting skills.

my school still uses 30 year old science equipment and 5-8 year old text books, and there arent enough graphing calculators for one math class. its sad. we even have holes in our walls

The building I go to school in is 74 years old, got renovated in the early 80s to be 70s tech. No A/C and it gets up around 110 degrees in May and June on the third floor. Not every room can have a fan because the wiring won't handle it, there aren't even enough graphing calculators for the SOL tests, we have holes in our walls too! Mmmmmmm, asbestos. The building in structurally sound except for some settling issues which only causes 4-bulb flourescent lights to fall out of the ceiling tiles. The heating system keeps it around a toasty 55 degrees in the winter, and we have no cooling system for the summer. We are supposed to get new schools built within the next 20 years sometime.

iSebastianGrey said:

Well with that sort of investment, I can't say I blame them for all the added security. This can't be a public school, unless your state has some sort of amazing education budgeting skills.

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Yep, it is a public school with a state grant and some sort of a partnership with Apple.

I have to admit - I am stunned! A PC would not have surprised me that much but a Mac!!! Wow! Your school board president should consider a run for Congress!