bibblybobbly

Hi,
I just went to a parent info evening at the school my son is enrolled in, due to start next year.
In short, the deal is that the children are to spend 50% of their school day doing work on laptops. They take their laptops home with them at the end of the day, and do their homework on them.
The more I think about it the more reservations I have . I spend all me time at the weekend, policing the com, making sure he doesnt spend too much time on it. Then this...
I wanted to know does anyone else, with children in yr 7 have this in their schools (this amount of laptop time)
My reservations are mainly health related, posture, eyesight etc, not to mention the worries of him coming home from school with a laptop in his bag. The head said he has never heard of any child being mugged for their laptop, just thier mobile phone.
I do get it, kids need to become more IT savvy, as time goes on prob everything will end up being done on the web. It didnt help that he referred to us as being Guinea pigs...... Ahhh, I just dunno.

jad n rich

Kids got them in high school. First thing they all did was load them up with games, facebook etc...

His grades went down.

Before he used to have home computer and school work was done at table, no computer.

Now you have no idea if hes on homework, game whatever unless you are watching him. Screen flicking even when he is studying. Kids all contacting each other, so studying is one big distraction.

Told him this term, get A's ( he is fully capable of this) or I am not sitting here for 2 more years so you play bloody games. This ultimatum came after many family arguments about the time spent on 'puter. So far exam results back for term one have been as required now for the next 7 terms......

northernbird

My daughter has a school laptop and she isn't able to install anything extra on it and they are monitored to check which websites they visit. Anything not school related and they are punished. I have no issue with it, just the way things are these days.

IvanM

Teaching good study habits is the way.

bibblybobbly

Yes, I understand this is to be the case. Head said the kids may well go home at night and install stuff on the puter,if it interferes with the running of it in anyway it will be handed to IT, and it will be reset to school settings. He said this will happen each and every time this happens. Hadnt even thought about the kids messaging each other during homework..
I think that it probably is the way that kids are going to be taught in the future,seems a bit sad really, many kids these days seem to b e more comfortable living their life thru the com, than in real everyday life

h2oskineil

Ditto what Northernbird said, my son get his new laptop next semester and he cannot add software.

My ONLY concern is...... all our home PC's and Laptops and my sons laptops, Ipad and Ipod touch all have "Safe Eyes" installed which is a very good filtering software from McCaffe and does not allow porn to be down loaded or accessed. The school laptop has no filtering software installed, meaning the school gives him the tools which may access inappropriate websites when at home.
I have asked if I can add filtering software, but the answer was no. Instead I need to put the filters in place in the wifi router.

oz bound

Our eldest in year 9 got one this year and I can honestly say it is the worst thing the school could've ever done and that has ever come into our house. I am currently trying to block all the websites through the router, facebook, twitter, skype etc. I've been told by another parent that I can change settings so that it will only power on for her at times I've set. Her writing is non existent, everything is spell checked and it has totally taken over her life and caused so much friction in the home that I am tempted to give it back to the school.

Partly my own fault for thinking that she would be responsible enough to manage it's use accordingly, now it's been abused it will be severely limited once I figure out how via the modem and it's settings. School work/homework only.

The best advice I can give you is for you to police it from day one, if you don't already know familiarize yourself with how to change settings on it etc the same with your router. Ours got a macbook air and I have no idea how to work it and fine it extremely frustrating anytime I've tried to do anything on it!

FrankandKaren

I do realise that technology plays a part in education. I do however feel that too much emphasis on doing work on the laptop can be counter-poductive. Spelling and handwriting suffer and Wikipedia is not exactly a good source for research.

Maybe laptop use should be limited to 20% of work? You can still learn how to use the things and you will still be able to find a book in a library.

bibblybobbly

When I was at school, the lessons I did best in were the subjects where the teachers really grabed my enthusiasm, and interested me enough that I wanted to learn more. that kind of response will never be evoked from a computer.
I think 50% is way too much time. Also wonder what the teachers are doing during this time?Im not saying they are slacking off, not at all, but dont see how they can be helping the kids

OzSheila

Problem is my son (and his friends) know more than the school's IT guys

I have a fundamental problem with the fact that he sits down to do maths homework on computer without a pen and paper

Has never written an essay by hand. Heaven forbid. I've given up.

northernbird

I don't see the issue but that is just my personal view. When they are at Uni and at work they will use computers for everything.

OzSheila

I agree that computers are a necessary fact of modern day life however my problem is that if these kids come out of primary school without being able to spell or do their times tables (which they are) there is no hope once they get into high school. Those skills are not taught again. It is v sad to see young adults who can't write a legible letter or do basic maths equations.

jad n rich

Exactly.

DadAgain

My irony alarm is ringing off the hook reading this on a busy, thriving internet community discussion forum.

ozzieeagle

I've got a feeling that this thread is proof of the generational gap that technology is playing in our off springs lives.

Daughter 17 is using Apple technology to produce innovative ways of expressing Maths Methods in entertaining video format ways. She also multi tasks and openly admits to using Facebook and other social networking media during her schooling sessions which appear to me go 24/7. Her 3am plus sessions which I was always certain were mostly social networking really have turned out to be homework as well.


All I can say is as long as she maintains her 90pct plus scoring results and gets into her Physics course at Melbourne Uni I'm not worrying.

I'll try and post an example of this video meets maths methods later...

Trust your kids... Especially if they are flying. I dont think people realise how much Multi tasking they really can do.



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