Filed under: Hardware, Education, MacBook
The Pine Tree State orders 64,000 MacBooks, with more to come
The Associated Press released an article today noting that the Maine Department of Education has placed an order for more than 64,000 MacBooks. The MacBooks are being purchased from Apple as a part of Maine's Learning Technology Initiative, which has provided MacBooks to all middle school students in Maine since 2002.The new order expands the program to high school students who did not receive a MacBook in middle school, and also provides the laptops to faculty for grades 7 through 12.
Maine is expected to place an additional order for about 7,000 more laptops within a few weeks. The laptops can also be used as an economic development tool for parents as well, providing software that links the computers to the Maine Department of Labor resources, including career centers.
Does your state, country, or school district provide laptops to every student? If they do, and they're providing Macs, let us know.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kyle said 11:19AM on 7-01-2009
I live in Bryan, Texas, and one of the middle schools here provides Mac laptops to students and teachers. It is not a district-wide practice yet.
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Joe said 11:18AM on 7-01-2009
I really wish my state/county did something like this. (I'm in the eastern panhandle of WV) We live in a globally connected community - laptops for students and technology in the classrooms couldn't be more important in my opinion.
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Wooster said 11:19AM on 7-01-2009
*wearing a false mustache*
Yes, I'm a legitimate Middle-schooler despite being 3 heads taller and being in control over my hormones. I would like my free Mac Laptop now. I am totally a resident of Maine. Ignore my CT License Plate.
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Peter S. said 11:29AM on 7-01-2009
I was in the first grade to receive laptops in the state of Maine (2002). It was certainly an awesome experience having an laptop all the way through high school. My town was able to pay for their own laptops after middle school so I had an ibook from 7th grade all the way through my senior year. There was definitely some school wide jealously during the transition because all the upperclassmen had iBooks and the underclassmen had MacBooks.
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SSteve said 11:37AM on 7-01-2009
I'm in California. Students are lucky if they get textbooks. And that's _before_ the upcoming budget cuts.
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owenmhv said 11:43AM on 7-01-2009
Are these computers assigned to students, as they do with textbooks. Does the student take the units home and keep them during summer vacation. Are the units locked to prevent unauthorized software installation? Its great maine thinks parents will also make use of the units to connect to Maine Department of Labor resources, if they have internet access, or does Maine provide that too.
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Aquen said 11:49AM on 7-01-2009
I like outside Philadelphia, PA and my school district just did a pilot program with Macbooks the past 2 years. Next year every student will be receiving one. The Macbooks are a big part of the classes, as most work is done on them, and submitted electronically. We are able to collaborate on projects, do research, and take quizzes online. You can log in to any Macbook and the server will sync all your settings and files. It's a very nice setup. Up until this year, we had Macbook carts in certain classrooms, but next year every student will have one to take home.
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mckooter said 11:49AM on 7-01-2009
well I live in maine, i thought i heard something like this on the radio recently. I think that I should be grandfathered in, its only been like 7 years since ive been in school, I could really use a MacBook, please?...... no im guessing not, its a great thing, but I wish there was something like this when i was in middle school,
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Jagger said 11:51AM on 7-01-2009
HA! The Canadian government would laugh at anyone that proposed this idea. None of the school boards here get much funding, and what they do get is wasted on who knows what.
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Duran Dujam said 12:20PM on 7-01-2009
Happy Canada Day
More to the point of the post, my school didn't give us Macs.
They didn't give anyone any computer. They didn't have laptop racks.
The classrooms each had one computer for the teacher, but the students used books.
glarbleflarb said 12:23PM on 7-01-2009
I'm in Los Angeles. The LA Unified School District doesn't even offer EDUCATION! They're little more than a bitter, sullen and vaguely dangerous babysitting service.
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Josh said 12:54PM on 7-01-2009
I am actually quite upset about this sort of thing. I went to high school in Pennsylvania, where Governor Rendell is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to give laptops to all high schoolers. Additionally, he found it worthwhile to cut the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence program, a program which I participated in, and which did more for my education and general life enrichment than anything else. The program cost 3.2 million.
I think it's nice to see schools try out new things, like giving laptops to students. However, when states (I don't think it's just Pennsylvania) are having massive budget shortfalls, and are cutting high quality education programs left and right, they shouldn't be buying laptops, let alone macbooks. I have yet to see and effective in-class computer program for high school students, let alone middle school students.
At least the students won't be playing minesweeper instead of paying attention.
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applefreak95 said 1:12PM on 7-01-2009
Our school provides Macs for all the staff but not the students. Bummer.
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Kyle Hoenig said 8:27PM on 7-01-2009
Actually, check out Croons Academy of Information Teachnology, a public high school in central flordia. They've been doing this successfully for years. The website is www.croomsaoit.org
Edsel said 3:06PM on 7-01-2009
Maine has one of the highest tax loads in the nation and is forever on the verge of financial collapse. It would not be surprised me if the Governor announced free laptops for every resident and lobster.
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Anthony said 4:07PM on 7-01-2009
I think it is a waste, in my high school, we already got Apple laptops, just like 2 years ago, and the Middle school has gotten new laptops TWICE i believe, the last time also 2 years ago. I don't think we need MORE laptops. ugh.
I just bring my own to school now. o_O.
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Jonah Goldstein said 8:11PM on 7-01-2009
Why does the government steal our money from us to buy toys for kids? Parents should be buying their kids computers if they need one. If the parents don't have the money, then it's a good lesson for a kid...don't be lazy slobs like your parents and get a real job when you grow up.
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ablets said 9:39PM on 7-01-2009
Wow, Jonah, that's an incredibly selfish, narrow minded statement.
A computer is not a toy, it's a tool to succeed. And in a mostly rural, largely impoverished state, a decent computer can give a kid with few other opportunities a chance to compete. Maine is pooling it's community resources to invest in a better future. Good for them!
Jenny K said 10:59PM on 7-01-2009
@albets
"pooling it's community resources"
There is a word for that, it's called communism. We know how well that worked. If people want to donate to some charity to buy computers for poor kids, great, go for it. But don't force me.
How much time do you think these kids are going to spend on these laptops playing games, surfing for cheats and watching youtube vs. actual studies? Come on, don't be so naive.
But you ain't seen nothing yet. The way the Federal Government is adding trillions in debt over the last several months this economy won't recover for years to come. Sorry, but you can't have everything for free. A couple laptops today, a couple auto companies tomorrow. It will all end badly.
ryan said 8:06PM on 7-03-2009
@Jenny K
Your argument applies to all education. "Don't force me to pay for my neighbors kids! Let their parents pay for them!" And that would be the end of the education system. Do you seriously want to live in a more uneducated country?
Dismissing computers as "toys" doesn't help our kids get a better education. Laptops are as necessary today as textbooks were in your day. We should be celebrating the progress they have achieved in Maine. Meanwhile education techniques in the rest of the country seem to have stagnated.