Wednesday, February 18, 2009

iCheap

According to Klein and McNeil in their updated blog at Education Week, the stimulus provides

$650 million for educational technology, such as computers in classrooms.


That doesn't count various incentive programs, teacher training, and building modernization. But those things are not explicitly slated for a tech budget and certainly would include and involve many non-tech things.

I'm no economist, but I think that a stimulus bill that provides only a minuscule of its resources towards the future of technology in education is more than shortsighted. Think about it: as of the 2007 data collected by IES, there were some 34.6 million students in public pre-K through grade 8 alone. Regarding a $650 million investment in technology, that comes out to less than $20 per student.

Am I missing something? Has Apple developed a new iCheap laptop that only the federal government knows about?

2 comments:

  1. I'm already in line outside the Mall of America Apple Store in Bloomington, Minnesota to be one of the first to get my hands on an iCheap. At $20, I'll spend $600 of my own money to outfit my classroom.

    Anyone who brings me a slice of cheese pizza from Pizza Villa gets a hug. I'll be the one propped up against the glass wall with my sleeping bag.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I'm gonna need a large lemonade too. And someone to save my spot for a trip to the restroom.

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