The Not so smart Economy

Gunsfortoys

Rte wrote:

Second-level schools are still waiting for Government grants to buy basic laptops and projectors for classrooms almost a year after they were first announced by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education.
The body representing secondary school managers says schools are extremely frustrated waiting for the grants.
They have warned that Irish children will fall even further behind their international counterparts unless action is taken immediately.
Advertisement

Last November then Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe promised funding for a basic laptop and data projector for every classroom in the country.
The announcement of a €150m 'smart schools' plan was made at an event with Taoiseach Brian Cowen and leading industry figures in attendance.
Minister O'Keeffe said second-level schools would get their money 'early in the new year'.
The Joint Managerial Body has accused the Government of empty promises and rhetoric.
In a one line statement issued to RTÉ News, the Department of Education said the grants will be distributed soon.

Absolutely disgraceful, depriving secondary students from basic essentials. This government won't be happy until we are all social welfare recieving morons. Smart economys don't materialise out of thin air. Shame on them.

Biggins

No comment.
(except that we need change)

geeky

Am I the only one who read that and thought 'why a laptop?' ?

kincsem

Get out the books.

Biggins

I hope IF they get around to buying these laptops, they buy them within our own borders.
Till then, books will just have to do till things improve.

smk89

Biggins wrote: »

I hope IF they get around to buying these laptops, they buy them within our own borders.

Why there more expensive?

Gunsfortoys

Biggins wrote: »

I hope IF they get around to buying these laptops, they buy them within our own borders.
Till then, books will just have to do till things improve.

I doubt it, I would say the dell factory in Poland FTW.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Guess wheret he first cuts are going to be made...!

Dravokivich

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Guess wheret he first cuts are going to be made...!

They're not cuts if there's no money...

Gunsfortoys

geeky wrote: »

Am I the only one who read that and thought 'why a laptop?' ?

Most businesses these days operate on PCs or laptops, a good reason for needing them in our schools.

Gunsfortoys

Dravokivich wrote: »

They're not cuts if there's no money...

True, they could work for Anglo Irish Bank to break even.

drunkmonkey

Smart Schools my arse, half of them can't spell, give them rubbers, pencils and some paper.

You do not need laptops in school period, time for some good old fashioned biro blisters.

Rented Mule

They should use the computers of all of the businesses that have left/gone under in Ireland.

Biggins

smk89 wrote: »

Why there more expensive?

Often very true for the average consumer - but bulk buying?
There might be some hope of saving a little on each one. We can only hope.

Gunsfortoys wrote: »

I doubt it, I would say the dell factory in Poland FTW.

Again probably true.

LpPepper

Most classes in my school have a computer and a projector , as well as big ass speakers and an interactive white board.

The school dumped all the computers in one of the computer rooms over the summer (pieces of crap) and were told in 2 weeks they'd get all brand new ones , hasnt happend yet .

So for our double IT class (transition year) one of the classes is spent in a regular class .. ??

Andv oh its not a Private school , its a community school

brianthebard

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Smart Schools my arse, half of them can't spell, give them rubbers, pencils and some paper.

You do not need laptops in school period, time for some good old fashioned biro blisters.

Its one laptop per room and a projector, its for the teachers to do presentations with and maybe for the kids to do 5 minute presentations if the teacher wants them to practice that sort of thing.

mikom

Fuck it, lets just replace the teachers with e-voting machines altogether.

-Leelo-

I think the laptop / projector thing is a good idea but not a necessity. Is that where the money that they're saving by making cuts to special needs assistants in schools is going?? I know what I think is the bigger priority.

gurramok

Why should every school get one?

Most middle class school kids would have a laptop in the home already, they could just bring it into school!

Most teachers who are on good pay could bring in their own laptops too seen as they have the kids welfare at heart.

smk89

mikom wrote: »

Fuck it, lets just replace the teachers with e-voting machines altogether.

Student: What's the square root of 16?
E-voting Machine: One vote for Mc Cane

MagicMarker

Exactly why does every classroom in the country need a laptop and projector?

Seems like a giant waste of money tbh.

smk89

MagicMarker wrote: »

Exactly why does every classroom in the country need a laptop and projector?

Seems like a giant waste of money tbh.

It isn't my school had them in every room, the teacher had to plan the lesson and everything was sitting ready on screen. It also means that notes are printed out at the start of the class so no scrawling them on a notepad

mikom

MagicMarker wrote: »

Exactly why does every classroom in the country need a laptop and projector?

Seems like a giant waste of money tbh.

Fur coat, no knickers.

mink_man

MagicMarker wrote: »

Exactly why does every classroom in the country need a laptop and projector?

Seems like a giant waste of money tbh.

if there was surplus money then I'd be for them but seeing as there's a recession and all it's the right thing to do not to put them into every classroom.

CreepingDeath

Forget laptops, might as well just install mock-up McDonalds counters and train them directly on those.

Mr Benevolent

Laptops may be essential in a country with an excellent education system, but they're unnecessary in Ireland.

Babooshka

smk89 wrote: »

It isn't my school had them in every room, the teacher had to plan the lesson and everything was sitting ready on screen. It also means that notes are printed out at the start of the class so no scrawling them on a notepad

I always found that making my own notes in class helped me to remember the lessons. That sounds really lazy and not good for learning, just a short cut and yet another convenience in life for the softies in celtic cub (b)land. :P

Back to [IMG]file:///[/IMG] EDIT: ah sh*t the image didn't appear, so now maybe if I'd had a laptop in school I would have been able to put one in proper, so maybe you 're right after all!! ...it was an abbacus for anyone that cared...

starbelgrade

Back in my day, we had chalk & blackboards. The height of technology was a tape recorder with a built in speaker & if your school was lucky, it'd have one VCR with a TV, usually a black & white one. We learned just fine.

You don't need a computer to teach kids.

clived2

starbelgrade wrote: »

Back in my day, we had chalk & blackboards. The height of technology was a tape recorder with a built in speaker & if your school was lucky, it'd have one VCR with a TV, usually a black & white one. We learned just fine.

You don't need a computer to teach kids.

Well its not back in your day now, In case you haven`t noticed, the world is becoming increasingly technologically dependant, if you don`t keep up,
You will be left behind, socially, educational wise and most importantly financially

Gunsfortoys

starbelgrade wrote: »

Back in my day, we had chalk & blackboards. The height of technology was a tape recorder with a built in speaker & if your school was lucky, it'd have one VCR with a TV, usually a black & white one. We learned just fine.

Same here.

However with tecnological advances etc, I think a laptop is necessary as its used in almost every business in the world. I had to go to college to learn about basics such as office etc because schools seen no need to teach them. Imagine the money that is saved teaching these basics in their secondary school education system than having to do it in Uni or college. Computer basics should be taught from the ground up.

Babooshka

clived2 wrote: »

Well its not back in your day now, In case you haven`t noticed, the world is becoming increasingly technologically dependant, if you don`t keep up,
You will be left behind, socially, educational wise and most importantly financially

I agree to a certain extent, but does that mean every class room has to have a laptop though? I don't think so. A well equipped room with laptops etc.for computers/IT class yes, but not that as well as one in every class room (Right now I mean, in the current lacking situation we're in)

ejmaztec

Rented Mule wrote: »

They should use the computers of all of the businesses that have left/gone under in Ireland.

It takes real skill for each pupil to be using 20 computers at a time.

starbelgrade

clived2 wrote: »

Well its not back in your day now, In case you haven`t noticed, the world is becoming increasingly technologically dependant, if you don`t keep up,
You will be left behind, socially, educational wise and most importantly financially

I can't use a compute. I wus deprived.

Anita Blow

Complaining for complaining's sake.
I'm in school and we have at least 1 computer in every room and then 5 computers in most manual subject rooms and business rooms. Projector in every room too.
It's a public school too. And my school isn't the only one in my area with all of this.

I think a great job is being done with schools here to be honest.

Voodoo_rasher

what will the kids use the laptops for; solitaire ? }

gurramok

I have the perfect solution.

Just get the kids to trade their PS3's and their XBox's along with the 60quid a pop games for a laptop and we have the problem solved.

flash1080

Powerpoint is boring.

ejmaztec

gurramok wrote: »

I have the perfect solution.

Just get the kids to trade their PS3's and their XBox's along with the 60quid a pop games for a laptop and we have the problem solved.

They can then buy several Indian laptops @ less than €30 each.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/23/india-unveils-cheapest-laptop

clived2

starbelgrade wrote: »

I can't use a compute. I wus deprived.

Oh thats right, your computer wasn`t delivered

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

gurramok wrote: »

Why should every school get one?

Most middle class school kids would have a laptop in the home already, they could just bring it into school!

Most teachers who are on good pay could bring in their own laptops too seen as they have the kids welfare at heart.

Not entirely sure I'd like a kid using my personal laptop in a school setting if I was a teacher. Would have to do a ****load of, ahem, file transferring...

Seriosuly, though, you can't exactly watch them every minute if you're the only teacher inthere and, joking aside, most of us have personal information of some sort on our PCs.

kincsem

Why laptops? Is it because they are cool? What happened to desktops, or a server / terminals?

brianthebard

gurramok wrote: »

Why should every school get one?

Most middle class school kids would have a laptop in the home already, they could just bring it into school!

Most teachers who are on good pay could bring in their own laptops too seen as they have the kids welfare at heart.

Agreed but how much is a projector? As for why schools need these laptops and projectors, quite simply to stay abreast of other countries and to keep up with the technology which is only going to have a greater and greater part in their lives as they grow up.

To the people asking why laptops, because they can be stored easily and moved around, unlike desktops. Pretty obvious really. A basic laptop is hardly any dearer than a basic desktop these days.

Some serious curmudgeonly stuff going down in this thread tbh.

starbelgrade

clived2 wrote: »

Oh thats right, your computer wasn`t delivered

No. It was delivered, but the lazy delivery guy refused to put it on my desk for me, so I sent it back.

up for anything

Gunsfortoys wrote: »

Absolutely disgraceful, depriving secondary students from basic essentials. This government won't be happy until we are all social welfare recieving morons. Smart economys don't materialise out of thin air. Shame on them.

I take exception to this. Being a social welfare recipient doesn't make one a moron.

Using from instead of of does.
Using i before e after c does.

Gunsfortoys

up for anything wrote: »

Using from instead of of does.
Using i before e after c does.

I am glad to see that my taxes are being used to fund grammar Nazis.

KINGVictor

Gunsfortoys wrote: »

Absolutely disgraceful, depriving secondary students from basic essentials. This government won't be happy until we are all social welfare recieving morons. Smart economys don't materialise out of thin air. Shame on them.

Hi OP,

I understand your position on this issue but realistically, the provision of laptops and projectors for every classroom in Ireland is not necessarily going to lead to a smart economy. You also have to realise they definitely cannot be referred to as "basic essentials" even by OECD standards, Yes they aid learning but they are not mandatory to the transfer of knowledge in secondary schools.

"Making Ireland a smart economy"- what the government essentially means is increasing the competitiveness of the country in terms of education, research and productivity compared to the US, some parts of Europe ( The Germans and the scandanavian countries) and most importantly rising economies ( and formidable competitors) like the BRIC countries.

The provision of Laptops to every secondary school class in Irelan will be favourable but is it feasible in light of the current economic circumstances?

starbelgrade

KINGVictor wrote: »

"Making Ireland a smart economy"- what the government essentially means is increasing the competitiveness of the country in terms of education, research and productivity compared to the US, some parts of Europe ( The Germans and the scandanavian countries) and most importantly rising economies ( and formidable competitors) like the BRIC countries.

I'm not quite sure that's what the government mean by "smart economy". Your definition seems to be quite a well thought out one, while the government use it as a "buzz word" because they heard some other people talking about it at an international economic conference.

Ollchailin

As a secondary teacher working in a school with fairly basic technology, I really welcome this. I totally agree that technology in the classroom does not necessarily lead to a "smart economy" or better grades- they have to be used appropriately and effectively.

It's just in my case I know I have loads of resources on my own laptop that I can't use because I've no way of showing them to the students because I've no projector. And even if I bought my own one, I've no white screen because we still only use chalk and blackboards (the walls are that bricky-school wall thing so can't project it onto them either!)

I really do think technology would aid my teaching and therefore benefit the students. You have to remember that these days we deal with teenagers who have everything at the touch of a button and the flick of a switch- and whilst I place a huge emphasis on the basics of reading & writing, I do think having these resources can improve teaching & learning.

Having said that, I would totally disagree with students using individual laptops in class. Besides the difficulty in monitoring this, basic literacy would be compromised by this- as it is I'm sick of reading bloody "txt spk" and poor grammar. But anyone here saying "sure we didn't have it in our day and didn't we turn out ok" isn't taking into account that we didn't have that technology at our fingertips like they do.

I still think the basics of teaching are the most important things, but we need to supplement it now in a more modern way.

TimeToShine

A smart workforce is not the product of fúcking technology. Give these spoilt kids pen and paper and make them work like fúcking dogs for it. Technology isn't going to do anything other than make people lazier and less arsed to do stuff for themselves.

starlit

Not much of a smart economy when the money has been borrowed, bailing out Anglo Irish Bank, young people and graduates emigrating, paying hidden fees for a free education and unemployment rates soring?

Where is it all going to end like???:eek:

mikom

TimeToShine wrote: »

Technology isn't going to do anything other than make people lazier and less arsed to do stuff for themselves.

Sent from my Iphone