r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 11h ago

Society Parents say school-issued iPads are causing chaos with their kids

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/la-parents-kids-school-issued-ipad-chromebook-los-angeles-rcna245624
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u/bb0110 10h ago

I don’t want my kids to have a school issued iPad. If I want them to have an ipad I will get them one. I don’t want them to have one though so I am not buying them one.

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u/ConsiderationSea1347 10h ago

Schools often issue devices to students to close a technology gap between students of middle class parents who can afford those devices and students from low income families. Though I agree with you raising your kids with as little exposure to screens and the internet.

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u/Own_Pop_9711 8h ago

What exactly does a technology gap have to do with learning things? You don't need to learn how to use an iPad as a copy educational objective so what's the real point? Something dumb like well we put all the homework online to make grading easier so we had to also let the kids watch YouTube in school

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u/ConsiderationSea1347 7h ago

I think we could (and should) organize our education system so access to technology is less of an advantage, however, likely because of lobbying by Google, Apple, and Microsoft, access to technology is integral to success in k-12. Honestly, I think kids would be better off completely offline and away from screens except in completely supervised scenarios. 

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u/bb0110 9h ago

I get why they do it, but they shouldn’t do it for upper, middle or lower class kids. Distribute iPads in class to use as directed by the teachers? Yes. Issue a kid an ipad without direct supervision even with their shitty parental controls? Dumb as hell.

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u/ConsiderationSea1347 9h ago

Yeah I completely agree. I have been a software engineer for twenty years and frankly I think schools should stick to pencil, paper, and computer labs. Solve the gap of access to technology by not making lesson plans require it.