Tech Giants Donate $750 Million In Goods and Services To Underprivileged Schools 143
mrspoonsi sends news that a group of major tech companies has combined to donate $750 million worth of gadgets and services to students in 114 schools across the U.S. Apple is sending out $100 million worth of iPads, MacBooks, and other products. O'Reilly Media is making $100 million worth of educational content available for free. Microsoft and Autodesk are discounting software, while Sprint and AT&T are offering free wireless service. This is part of the ConnectED Initiative, a project announced by the Obama Administration last year to bring modern technology to K-12 classrooms. The FCC has also earmarked $2 billion to improve internet connectivity in schools and libraries over the next two years. Obama also plans to seek funding for training teachers to utilize this infusion of technology.
Theft. (Score:1)
This will just make them attractive targets for theft.
Not to mention the replacement/repair costs as they get damaged over the school year.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
The theft is Microsoft discounting software. That really stinks as a donation.
Like fucking drug dealers. May they people who do this die young from painful cancer.
PS. I don't use Apple nor Microsoft products.
If the money is used to hire much better teachers (Score:1)
What makes the "underprivileged schools" underprivileged is not only the facilities sux, the students sux, it's also because the teachers there (not all of them, but most) sux
While money cannot buy guaranteed success, at the very least, if the $750M is used to hire much better teachers, it would go much __much__ further to help the students than those "fancy gifts"
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You (The US) already spends the most on education per student then any other nation and yet have some of the worst test results.
I don't think "throwing money at it" will make it better. Sure, teachers will take home more money but the test results clearly show this doesnt improve the quality of education.
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That may be true, but it's not going to teachers! [thefederalist.com]. (Link describes North Carolina, but I think the same is true elsewhere.)
This study [neatoday.org] disagrees.
Also, the core claim that the US spends the most per student - if we are talking about primary and secondary students - not college - is not true [ed.gov] although it is on the high end. Switzerland, Norway and Luxembourg spend more, and Austria and Denmark are almost same.
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First off, I'm amazed that none of them have stolen. I'd have expected at least a few thefts before the criminals realized that they could not be used/re-sold.
Secondly, that's more infrastructure that needs to be maintained and secured. With associated training as the staff changes jobs.
It isn't just the tech. It's the day-to-day support and the annual contracts and such. It's happened before and it looks like it will happen again.
http://slashdot.org/story/07/06/24/1316249/schools-out-forever-at-sv-high-tec [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Better poor people have nothing then eh.
Best we take their houses away, people might break into them.
Re:Theft. (Score:4, Insightful)
This will just make them attractive targets for theft.
You could make the same cynical and nihilistic comment about anything given to these kids. Better computers? They will just get stolen. Better books? Those will get stolen too. Better classrooms? Target for vandalism. That way you can criticize anyone who does anything, and feel superior about doing nothing.
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An iPad probably has a bit higher black-market value than a textbook on High School chemistry.
And cannot take the same amount of accidental water damage.
Or accidental falling damage.
And requires more infrastructure and support to maintain it.
Meanwhile, the poorest schools cannot afford the books that are written for the standardized tests that those students have to pass.
https://www.google.com/#q=underprivileged+schools+textbooks+standardized+testing [google.com]
Choose the "Why Poor Schools Can't Win at Standardized Tes
Re:Theft. (Score:4, Insightful)
An iPad probably has a bit higher black-market value than a textbook on High School chemistry.
So the best solution is to have neither? Look, Apple is offering to donate iPads. They are NOT offering to donate chemistry textbooks. I don't see you offering to donate them either. So pretending that by turning down the iPads, we are going to magically get chemistry textbooks is just silly. The choice is not "iPads vs Chemistry Textbooks", it is "iPads vs Nothing". To say that "nothing" is better, because the iPads will just get stolen anyway, is just a cynical rationalization by people that want to feel smug and superior, criticizing these donors, while doing absolutely nothing themselves.
Re:Theft. (Score:4, Insightful)
No. The best solution, as I have stated, is to have the books needed to pass the standardized tests.
And that is the problem. By donating the iPads, Apple gets a tax write-off and the schools end up with broken/stolen tech that ate up resources.
a. Apple could pay their taxes and the government could use that money to buy those books.
b. Apple could donate those books INSTEAD of the iPads.
c. Apple could donate a portion of the proceeds of selling those iPads.
Why isn't Apple working on getting the books that would cost a lot LESS than those iPads? Because Apple is looking out for Apple. And using those kids as PR.
I've just given you three scenarios that would be better.
You are the one claiming that Apple's only option is to donate iPads.
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The best solution, as I have stated, is to have the books needed to pass the standardized tests.
Except that the books are not, in any meaningful sense, an alternative to these iPads. These iPads have nothing to do with whether the schools can afford books or not. If the schools turn down the iPads, the chance that Apple will donate chemistry books instead is precisely zero. There is no magic pixie dust that can turn an iPad into a chemistry book. If you want to just ignore reality, then the books are still not the best solution. A better solution would be brain implants that can be preloaded with
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The school should sell the hardware immediately at 80 percent of the retail price and buy books.
1. The terms of the donation almost certainly prohibit that.
2. When someone makes a donation worth millions to your cause, spitting in their face is generally not the best way to encourage future donations.
Re: Theft. (Score:2)
Yep, kids are always stealing 'better textbooks'!
Apoarently you think a science textbook is as appealing a theft target to a school-age child as, say, a MacBook or an iPad...
Uh-huh.
COG (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:COG (Score:5, Insightful)
"Underprivileged" schools really need basics like text books, notebooks, and pencils for the kids.
Technology is not a replacement for the bare necessities that are missing in the most underfunded schools.
Mod parent up. (Score:3)
And teachers.
If you really have to deploy technology then make it something like a Raspberry Pi. Low theft risk. Easy replacement. And $750 million will buy a lot of them AND books, paper, pencils, teachers, etc.
Wasn't there a recent story about how some schools could not afford the text books with the answers that went with the standardized tests?
Mod parent up. (Score:1)
Wasn't there a recent story about how some schools could not afford the text books with the answers that went with the standardized tests?
If the teacher cannot teach the students without an answer key textbook what does that say about the quality of the teacher?
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That's assuming they have a teacher...
Re:COG (Score:5, Insightful)
"Underprivileged" schools really need basics like text books, notebooks, and pencils for the kids.
So? Are you offering to donate these? If not, then why are you sneering at the companies that are actually doing something, rather than nothing? You don't need a pencil to operate an iPad, and these poor kids will likely benefit more than most from exposure to technology.
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If not, then why are you sneering at the companies that are actually doing something, rather than nothing?
I'm not sneering at anyone.
What I am, is aware that even free hardware comes with its own costs.
You have to prevent theft, manage software on it, track it, lock down the browser, deal with breakage, and a dozen other details.
Underprivileged schools are the least able to to do all these things, either because of staffing or funding.
And the only way they can manage such requirements is by taking time/money away from other educational goals.
It's very easy for a well intentioned gift to turn into a white elepha
Re:COG (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't doubt the goodness of Apple's heart. However, of that $100 million, about $50 million or less is actual COGS. And, they get a huge multi-million dollar tax deduction. And, they are clearing out their old inventory of last generation hardware that is now worth less due to newly introduced versions, and they place that inventory in the hand of customers who wouldn't necessarily pay for those products on their own (i.e., poor families and schools) and therefore don't fully steal from their own market share. And, they are continuing their strategy of putting their products in the hands of students so that those students become future customers, i.e., fantastic marketing. So, Apple is to be commended for their generosity, but they are to be venerated for their business acumen.
Excellent! (Score:2)
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Yet no comment on Microsoft or Autodesk and their contributions which cost them essentially $0?
No need to comment on these two companies. In the slashdot universe, Microsoft is already understood to be pure evil, while Autodesk is understood to be insignificant.
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Charity doesn't need to be reminiscent of mortification of the flesh.
Juxtapose, grocery stores still dump edible food into locked trash containers so that hobos won't be able to benefit from society's excesses. - Apple is simple not participating in such an absuredly evil practice, in this case.
"Don't be evil" is often good enough.
Apple will probably make their money on support (Score:2)
and warranties and gaining in roads for future sales.
Their process to get a locked ipad unlocked is egregious and takes *WEEKS*. I'm glad my particular school doesn't have any for kids (it does for a few administrators) as it's hell to support them.
$750 MILLION @ 114 schools (Score:1, Flamebait)
Yeah...**does quick math**
That comes out to $ 6.58 Million worth of tech **per school**
which makes zero sense...why 114 schools?
this whole game is bogus...donating "millions" while Republicans are closing schools left and right based on fictional "budget crisis"
we could outfit every public school with everything they need and be within budget...this not a question of lack of resources
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I agree. The problem is with the teachers and what is being taught. There is no way technology can fix that or even make a positive difference.
not the fault of teachers (Score:2)
wrong...
there are plenty of professional teachers...teachers are not the problem
the lack of funding due to imaginary budget crisis is the problem
somebody lied to you. We spend the most, do it wro (Score:5, Informative)
Somebody lied to you.
http://data.worldbank.org/indi... [worldbank.org]
You'll notice that the US spends more than practically any country, and gets among the worst results. If you look at our own spending over time vs results, again you'll see that as budgets have increased, results have gotten worse. Spending more to do more of the wrong thing doesn't help.
Re:The US-hating world lied to you with test flaws (Score:1)
Any conclusions so far about tests can safely be considered as flawed since they do not take admission type into account. That is, an educational system that takes everybody is penalized while more selective systems (Asia, Europe) do not.
you're suggesting Americans are well educated? (Score:2)
Do you suspect that Americans, as a whole, are not actually ignorant? Remembering that the majority of Americans didn't recognize the name of the vice president.. .
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YES...Americans are some of the smartest people on earth...Americans are actually not nearly as dumb as those late-nite TV show sketches where they interview a man-on-the-street would indicate
i've traveled to Japan, France, Germany, and several other countries that are on par w/ our development level and there are ignorant types everywhere
you are being irrational
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And why do you think European systems do not take everybody? For example in Germany, you have 9 years of mandatory schooling that you cannot get around. Sounds to me like you have no clue what you are talking about.
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Title of my upcoming book "Why Johnny can't use a Surface tablet" in bookstores everywhere.
You'll notice that the US spends more than practically any country, and gets among the worst results.
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Indeed. And that is a really fascinating thing. It can only be explained by hiring the wrong people and teaching the wrong things in wrong ways. More money is not going to solve this problem.
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I think both parent and GP are somewhat correct. As a country, we do spend more than most other countries and get overall poor results. However:
We spend the money poorly. Most of that money should go to educational materials (books, pencils and paper, and even so to computers), teachers, and infrastructure (buildings, heat, electricity). However, most districts have become pretty administration heavy; I've seen towns with one elementary/middle school and one high school that have both a superintendent and a
not teachers (Score:2)
nothing in your link implicates teachers
nope, impugnes excessive spending (Score:2)
Certainly not. It demonstrates conclusively that spending more doesn't work. We've been spending more, and getting worse results.
Teachers are like any other profession - there are good teachers and bad teachers. There are teachers who work 48 weeks per year, there are teachers that work 34 weeks per year. There are teachers who make $85,000 and there are teachers who make $30,000. Like most professions, there's a correspondence between working and making good money and a correspondence between taking se
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And your arguments besides "I am right and you are wrong" are?
policy votes & privatization plan (Score:2)
my argument is checkable by policy vote
the GOP defunds schools as part of their "privatize everything" plan...defund the schools, the schools don't score well on standardized tests, funding is tied to test scores, school loses funding...
repeat cycle until all schools are privately owned
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this whole game is bogus...donating "millions" while Republicans are closing schools left and right based on fictional "budget crisis"
The Republicans are mostly to blame, but the Democrats are getting more like them. Obama followed up GWB's No Child Left Behind with Race to the Top. You can't get federal money under RTTT without breaking the teachers' unions and firing teachers, based on high-stakes testing that correlate with family income more than any other factor.
They could pay German or Finnish levels of taxes, so that we could fund schools and pay teachers at German or Finnish levels.
The schools in the wealthy districts don't have t
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it's funding...the whole thing is based on artificial scarcity
also: Obama can't force states to adopt a rational education policy...all he can do is tie Federal funds to certain criteria
i agree that Common Core is reductive and that standardized tests should not determine funding levels
all schools should get what they deserve, everything they need...we have more than enough money in our country
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They could pay German or Finnish levels of taxes, so that we could fund schools and pay teachers at German or Finnish levels.
America already spends more per student than either Germany or Finland. Only Norway and Switzerland spend more. But both of those countries have overvalued currencies, and would spend less than America if calculated at PPP.
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Hm. It does seem that the US spends more on elementary and high school education than most other countries.
It seems that education spending is unequally distributed throughout the US. First, there are wide variations by state. Second, since most ele/hi spending is raised from local taxes, the poor districts can't raise as much as the wealthy districts. I suspect that the poor districts also get a lot of federal and state funding for students with problems.
I'll put off any conclusions until I've learned more
Re: $750 MILLION @ 114 schools (Score:2)
I would invite you to look into so-called 'Abbott Districts' in the state of New Jersey - these are the poorest districts in the state, and as a result of the Abbott court decision they receive so much state aid that they are among the highest-funded districts in the state (dollars spent per child) and have been for decades, yet, oddly, even after all that money has been invested in thes distri
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According to Diane Ravitch. who reviewed all the evidence as assistant secretary of education under GHW Bush and Clinton, the one factor that has the strongest association with school achievement is family income. That matters more than the effect of schools and teachers.
So in order to improve school performance, it seems to be necessary to lift families out of poverty. The US has more income inequality, and more poverty at the bottom of the distribution, than most other developed countries. If we had Europ
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Isn't that the government's plan, to underfund and undermine public schools so that they can be replaced with worthless for-profit institutions?
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Bob Herbert explained this better than I can.
http://www.politico.com/magazi... [politico.com]?
In The Arena
The Plot Against Public Education: How millionaires and billionaires are ruining our schools.
By BOB HERBERT
October 06, 2014
(Bill Gates got the idea that high schools were too big and should be broken up. With no evidence to support it, schools around the country were broken up. Gates spent $2 billion and disrupted 8% of the public high schools. There were problems, such as the loss of science labs, electives, and extr
not flamebait (Score:1)
I object to my downmod of "flamebait"
*some* Slashdot mods will mod anything that mentions a Political Party as "flamebait" automatically
my comment is NOT flamebait, and my claims about GOP funding of schools is absolutely falsifiable and verifyable by checking public policy votes
Apple always has been in schools (Score:5, Interesting)
I waxed philosophical on maybe we should teach more over just using ourselves, but Apple has a long history of donating tons of computers. Whether or not you think it was a smart move to invest in their own future, it definitely put computers in kids hands who maybe never touched one before.
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what's stopping you from developing apps for macs and iDevices today? programming is still an unpaid / underpaid activity
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For starters: You basically make an interactive math work book. The tricky part is evaluating where your student is making mistakes and instruct them to their errors and the correct way to do it.
I've always been interested in AI and how it could teach future generations, but I realized that we don't need AI to make good educational work book style aps. Another thing to do is to place your user's level of competence, so they don't all start with ABCs and counting. Some peop
Someone doesn't know PR (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple is giving away HARDWARE and Microsoft is offering a discount on software.
I'd be ashamed to work for Microsoft right now.
Election week BS, not PR (Score:1)
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The politician in question isn't up for election.
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Apple is giving away HARDWARE and Microsoft is offering a discount on software.
I'd be ashamed to work for Microsoft right now.
I'd be ashamed to work for MS at any time in it's history tbh.
Re: Someone doesn't know PR (Score:2)
And what is YOUR current employer doing, anything? Are you embarrassed to be working for a company doing nothing for those 114 schools?
Go look up Microsoft's Dreamspark program, they have been giving away software for free for YEARS and the discounts MS previously offered every school in America were exceedingly generous (see a Educational Advantage). And through organizations like TechSoup charities can buy copies of Windows software for literally pennies on the dollar.
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We're not even in the USA, why should be care?
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Yeah, it's only software, but it's the latest ful
How Bout (Score:1)
That's just over 6.5 million per school. Think how small the class sizes would be with that type of money.
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That's just over 6.5 million per school. Think how small the class sizes would be with that type of money.
Can you cite any peer reviewed controlled studies that show that "smaller classes" improve student performance in any measurable way?
That smaller classes are "better" is something that everybody "knows", but you would be astonished at how little actual evidence there is. The few studies that have been done have produced mixed results. Kids from disadvantaged backgrounds can benefit in early grades. But brighter kids actually do worse in smaller classes, since it is harder for them to read ahead rather th
You cite flawed PISA/etc. studies. (Score:1)
Controlling for access methods (US all-access versus Asian compulsory streaming for example) would show something a bit less favorable to Asia. Never mind that the test score in Asia leaves no room for improvement - it simply forces you on one track.
I Don't Get It (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't get it. Why not tax corporations properly and legislate against their exploitation of tax havens? With more government revenue you can properly fund the education system without having to rely on the condescension of corporate largess. The G-20 is meeting soon. Sounds like an ideal time to reform international tax law.
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I don't get it.
Maybe because you are looking in the wrong place. America spends more per student than almost any other country, yet we get worse results than some countries spending far less. So maybe the money isn't the problem.
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America spends more per student than almost any other country
That doesn't seem to be the case. Finland's education system, for example, is one of the best in the world. Finland's GDP per capita for 2011 [worldbank.org] is similar to the US's 2011 GDP per capita.
For 2010, Finland spent more on education as a percentage of GDP [worldbank.org] than the US did. In 2010 Finland also spent more per student than the US as a percentage of GDP per capita at the secondary [worldbank.org] and tertiary [worldbank.org] levels. Finland's spending was also higher in dollar terms for secondary and tertiary education per student, despite having a
we spend much more than successful countries (Score:2)
Funding them at the same level as countries that get good results might work.
http://data.worldbank.org/indi... [worldbank.org]
I'm not sure that cutting funding would be politically popular, though. We spend a lot more than the countries that do well. I don't know if those other countries spend their school time on Mexican culture week, black history month, and global diversity week. They may spend their time learning reading, writing, and arithmetic.
And it's all absolutely worthless (Score:1)
They could have, you know, just given these schools money instead of shoveling out their their outdated garbage they wanted a tax writeoff for.
I wish Apple had educational stuff like the '80s.. (Score:2)
As of now, the Apple student discount is about 10%. It might be a bad thing and a cut of quarterly profits this quarter, but selling Macs to schools for a major cut-rate price will be sewing the seeds of a large audience once the kids (who are used to Macs) start graduating and making purchase decisions.
As for student discounts, I remember Apple offering far greater savings a while back to students, and this might be something they should consider doing again.
It also wouldn't hurt if Apple made a Mac model
Wow $100 Million (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wow $100 Million (Score:5, Informative)
Mod parent up. This is the reality of modern industry. Instead of paying a fair share of taxes, they make a "charitable donation" and get a god-damned rebate.
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In 2013, IHS estimateed Apple's costs to produce an iPad were between $274 and $361. Current retail price on an iPad Air w/ cellular is $829. Add in high-margin accessories and software, and it is quite possible that Apple could write-off a donation of around $1000 per device against $350 in cost. This $650 reduction in taxable income could save Apple about $227.50 in taxes... if they actually paid a typical 35% corporate tax rate
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W
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it is quite possible that Apple could write-off a donation of around $1000 per device against $350 in cost.
No. The tax laws don't work that way. They can only get a write off for their actual costs. So for a donation that actually cost them $350, they would get a $350 deduction, which would save them about $100 on their taxes.
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Regulations 1.170A-1(c)(2) and (3) states:
"The fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or sell and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts. If the contribution is made in property of a type which the taxpayer sells in the course of his business, the fair market value is the price which the ta
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Oh my, there is no such thing as 'fair share' of taxes, there is no such thing, it's a gigantic cop out justification to steal from people. Nobody should be paying a single penny in any income related taxes, less of all businesses. Businesses shouldn't be paying any taxes whatsoever. There is no such fucking thing as 'fair' when we are talking about stealing money from people.
I swear to all the gods I don't believe in, this world stinks because there are people like you living in it.
Re:Wow $100 Million (Score:4, Insightful)
Why didn't you simply say "I'm a serf in favor of feudalism" and save yourself a few dozen self-centered words?
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Oh, Irony. You are self defined as a serf the moment you vote or stand in any way on the side of having income of anybody being taxed for any reason whatsoever.
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You need to duck. That Whoooooshing sound that you heard could be dangerous. ;)
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...Nobody should be paying a single penny in any income related taxes, less of all businesses. Businesses shouldn't be paying any taxes whatsoever....
So you are proposing that the entire tax system should be based solely on taxation of wealth? Wow! I never suspected you would be so progressive!
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Those special deals/rules aren't available to people. Companies are taxed on profits. Citizens are taxed on income
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Those special deals/rules aren't available to people. Companies are taxed on profits. Citizens are taxed on income
Except that anyone can form a company for a cost of $0. You can even form a personal corporation for about $300 and about an hour of your time. So all those "special deals" certainly are available to you. It just takes a non-zero amount of effort to take advantage of them.
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S corps are not essentially not corporations tax-wise because people taking your wrong advice.
So? Forming a C corp is even easier. Converting a C corp to an S corp requires an extra form, that takes an additional five minutes of your time to fill out and file. The big corporations lobbied for these tax breaks, but there is nothing to stop little people from taking advantage of them as well.
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Why don't the rich pay German or Finnish levels of taxes and support the schools at German or Finnish levels of funding?
cutting to German, Finnish levels might work (Score:3)
Cutting our spending down to those levels might work. All of the countries that get better results than us do spend less.
http://data.worldbank.org/indi... [worldbank.org]
I noticed one difference between US public schools vs schools that work. When my step-daughters were in elementary school, there were three weeks out of five that were "special". The first week was Mexican culture week and they spent their time singing Mexican songs, making Mexican food, and learning Mexican dances. That was enriching, perhaps. A c
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I noticed one difference between US public schools vs schools that work. When my step-daughters were in elementary school, there were three weeks out of five that were "special". The first week was Mexican culture week and they spent their time singing Mexican songs, making Mexican food, and learning Mexican dances. That was enriching, perhaps. A couple of weeks later was black history, and then "world diversity " or something. That's all fine and well, I understand the value of such things. I strongly suspect, though that Japanese students spent those weeks learning reading , writing and arithmetic. My stepdaughter can make enchiladas, but can't read so well. A good trade?
My niece is Mexican. I made sure that when she learned about Mexican culture, she learned about Diego Rivera, Mario Molina, and Nora Volkow. Quite a bit of science there. Ever see Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads? She also took a class in black history when she went to college. Ever hear of Madam C. J. Walker?
The Japanese have their problems. A Japanese architect found out that about 80 Korean forced laborers died during WWII making an airport, and their bodies were dumped into a pit. He wanted to build
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> ever see Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads?
Nah, I wasn't alive in the 1930s. I have seen Man, Controller of the Universe, though. :)
I wonder if my stepdaughters, who ended up being raised by their Mexican grandparents, would be familiar with any people you mentioned. Not from school, I'd bet.
what works (Score:3)
We could fund them similarly to the way they are funded in countries that get good results. Details here:
http://data.worldbank.org/indi... [worldbank.org]
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More tax money will merely inflate teacher and administrative pay and pensions further. On the other hand, whatever costs these donations offset will end up in the same teacher/admin/union pockets, so it's a wash.
You mean the same way that corporate profits and tax breaks will merely inflate corporate executive pay further?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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These gifts and grants are nice, but without long-term funding of support staff this is what happens:
http://www.njspotlight.com/sto... [njspotlight.com]
You can't simply push tons of technology into schools and forget about it. The "light the fuse and run" approach never works. You need a staff of technology people who will train staff, maintain and repair the tech, and integrate the technology into the curriculum.
Without adequate support, these systems will simply collect dust and end up in a storage locker.
The little darlings.
Crocamo installed software called Net Nanny to block pornography, gaming sites, and Facebook. He disabled the built-in web cameras. He even installed software to block students from undoing these controls. But Crocamo says students found forums on the Internet that showed them how to access everything.
“There is no more determined hacker, so to speak, than a 12-year-old who has a computer,” said Crocamo.
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yeah ruffled underpants inspire great feats of hacking.
how does that formula go
time to complete hack = (Complexity of Hack * age of target) / (number of persons interested * interest factor of hack)
yeah any Porn Filter that does not include a locked room and armed marine guards will be hacked in minutes to seconds
Yawn, minuscule in so many ways... (Score:4, Insightful)
So the tech giants are donating ALMOST as much as the clownface Ballmer receives in tax breaks from purchasing a sports team? Great job guys! Let us gather and praise the fractions of tax deductible gifts which pale in comparison to the profits earned by manufacturing in poverty stricken countries and shirking domestic tax responsibilities, because it is the only salvation to clean you're otherwise amoral-yet-wretched corporate souls.
Obligatory... (Score:2)
Oh, so Apple is sending a dozen computers?
"Underprivileged"? (Score:2)
There's rich schools, which can buy all the expensive stuff themselves.
There are average schools, which can buy only cheap stuff.
And then there are underprivileged schools which get it all the expensive stuff for free.
I know supporting underprivileged schools makes for a better marketing story, but it isn't very effective.
Cart before the horse (Score:2)
So the administration is 'planning' to to get funding to teach teachers how to use all the technology they are dumping into the classroom AFTER committing to putting the tech in the classroom?