5 ms·

So $66 a year? That’s not very much. 3 year life span with children as the user/abuser? Seems about right. Must be a slow news day.

by vuln 3y ago

dragonwriter 3y ago
Yeah, that’s less than the cost of one hardcover textbook, or a few softcover workbooks. The per-student per-year acquisition cost involved is, on the scale of school expenses, hardly worth talking about.
- josefx 3y ago
  Not sure how it is in the US, where I went to school I had to deal with textbooks that where up to 30 years old and showed it. The acquisition cost for school books was basically zero since they didn't buy replacements until the books literally fell apart in the hands of a student and students had to pay for anything they "broke".
  - smeej 3y ago
    I definitely had classmates finding their parents' names inside the front covers of their books in the old checkout list. This was in suburban Denver in the early 2000s, so it's not like it was some backwater town a long time ago.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - dmix 3y ago
    I don’t think he was comparing to the yearly cost of textbooks but more comparing it relative to a single textbook (which students have multiple). The key is cost per student for their most critical piece of equipment, and one far more capable than a 30yr old textbook, $66 isn’t bad at all.
    - josefx 3y ago
      > and one far more capable than a 30yr old textbook, $66 isn’t bad at all. Is that additional capability actually put to good use by the schools?
      - dmix 3y ago
        Laptops are rarely something used in schools during lectures but rather something used for homework, video calls, and research. Bill Gates has long called for reversing schools to be for group learning and researching (aka homework) while in school with teachers helping them while they spend time at home reading or watching lectures. Laptops would obviously be well suited for that role. Even without such a scenario equalizing the access to tech for after school schooling is essential in addition to interactive sessions while at school. So I don't have a good answer RE real life but at a minimum it should be the basic level of investment

So $66 a year? That’s not very much. 3 year life span with children as the user/abuser? Seems about right. Must be a slow news day.

by vuln 3y ago

So $66 a year? That’s not very much. 3 year life span with children as the user/abuser? Seems about right. Must be a slow news day.

dragonwriter 3y ago

Yeah, that’s less than the cost of one hardcover textbook, or a few softcover workbooks. The per-student per-year acquisition cost involved is, on the scale of school expenses, hardly worth talking about.

josefx 3y ago
Not sure how it is in the US, where I went to school I had to deal with textbooks that where up to 30 years old and showed it. The acquisition cost for school books was basically zero since they didn't buy replacements until the books literally fell apart in the hands of a student and students had to pay for anything they "broke".
- smeej 3y ago
  I definitely had classmates finding their parents' names inside the front covers of their books in the old checkout list. This was in suburban Denver in the early 2000s, so it's not like it was some backwater town a long time ago.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- dmix 3y ago
  I don’t think he was comparing to the yearly cost of textbooks but more comparing it relative to a single textbook (which students have multiple). The key is cost per student for their most critical piece of equipment, and one far more capable than a 30yr old textbook, $66 isn’t bad at all.
  - josefx 3y ago
    > and one far more capable than a 30yr old textbook, $66 isn’t bad at all. Is that additional capability actually put to good use by the schools?
    - dmix 3y ago
      Laptops are rarely something used in schools during lectures but rather something used for homework, video calls, and research. Bill Gates has long called for reversing schools to be for group learning and researching (aka homework) while in school with teachers helping them while they spend time at home reading or watching lectures. Laptops would obviously be well suited for that role. Even without such a scenario equalizing the access to tech for after school schooling is essential in addition to interactive sessions while at school. So I don't have a good answer RE real life but at a minimum it should be the basic level of investment