Maine Schools Order Up 71K MacBooks
July 1st, 2009 at 9:28 AM - News by Jeff Gamet
The state of Maine is will be outfitting high school students this fall with MacBook laptops as part of its Maine Learning Technology Initiative, making the state the first with a laptop for every student program. The state placed an order for more than 64,000 Apple laptops for students and faculty, and plans to order about 7,000 more laptops in the coming weeks.
The laptops are earmarked for students and faculty in 7th through 12th grade. The state already provides laptops to middle school students as part of a program launched in 2002.
We have seen incredible success with our middle schools showing increased student engagement and achievement with MLTI in place and we want to bring this same opportunity to our high schools," commented Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron. "This is not just about technology -- it's about using the technology to support education."
The state chose to issue Apple's MacBook to students because the laptop is "durable, flexible, and goes with students to all points of learning," according to Ms. Gendron.
Along with the laptops, Apple will be providing state schools with educational software, professional development, repair and replacement, along with technical support.
The deal is good news for students that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford a computer, and good for Apple as well since its laptops will make it into even more homes.
5 Observer Comments
You know, I can’t help but wonder if Maine previously bought all their students graphing calculators.
Meanwhile here in California, my high school teachers are all laid off except for the few who have been issued IOU’s for the work they have done so far…..
...but god forbid we raise taxes to pay them! *sigh*
64,000 x $999 = $63,936,000
Okay, let’s say wholesale pricing is 50% of retail, then that’s $31,968,000.
Somehow I don’t think those Chinese high schoolers are beating our kids in math and science because they have each have a Macbook.
God what a colossal waste of money.
So, Tundraboy - you would prefer to have Americans kids doing the factory work, the menial labor that the Chinese have taken over? Personally, I’d say spend the money so that our kids can do software and other high tech jobs. Those software folks make beau coup bux.
I live in Maine and no school is offering a degree in HR . I’m not interested in online degree or going to school in another state. I like foreign languages , wanted to pursue a career here in the US in lingustics ( I went to the University in another country for 3 years) but there aren’t that many opportunities having that degree except for teaching . I work in a good company but in order to get a good job there you need a degree in biology or chemistry mostly . Please help me , I want to go back to school in 4 months and I can’t decide on what I should study. Thanks .
online degree
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