Ravenwood - 10/14/04 06:30 AM
One of the fundamental rules of economics is that there are no free lunches. But economics be damned, T.C. Williams High School is putting a "free" laptop in every locker. And what better way is there to illustrate the liberal definition of "free".
The laptop computers were free -- and theirs to keep until June. Each was labeled with a student's name and two security stickers. [...]So in this case, "free" means $1.4 million a year. But hey, it's just tax dollars, so it's probably someone else's money. (Like mine.)T.C. Williams, the only high school in the Alexandria district, reserved $1.4 million of its annual budget to lease, insure and administer the computers, which would have cost about $1,600 each if students had bought them individually.
just wait until they see how much porn and games are on those computers in June...
Frankly, though, this is what happens when we continue to blindly vote YES for every school levy, just because it's "for the kids".
Posted by: roger at October 14, 2004 8:38 AMI wonder how many of these laptops get stolen or "lost" by June. And how many get broken - laptops are anything but kid-safe.
Posted by: markm at October 14, 2004 1:06 PMDo the math... the school has 2100 students, so approx. 525 new freshmen a year... Buy them all a $1600 computer TO KEEP and the total cost is $840,000.... yet the school is allocating $1.6 million in their budget per year?
They are spending twice the money to do this yearly-lease option than it would cost to just buy every new freshman their own computer to keep!!
I hate the public school system...
Sorry, they've allocated $1.4 million....
so ALMOST twice as much money then...
Posted by: Aaron at October 14, 2004 7:07 PMDamn education!! What the hell are we wasting money on that for? For that matter why do we have that new fangled and expensive disposable paper in our schools? What about those old wax slates that you could smooth out and practice your "figures" on again?
"$1.4 million of its annual budget to lease, insure and administer the computers" So it appears they are insuring the computers (so they will end up with the same number at the end of the year as at the start) and surprisingly enough for a large project, there are administration costs, scandalous.
"Schools", "money", "hear words together", "getting madder....hulk SMASH!!!"
Posted by: Big Time Patriot at October 14, 2004 7:28 PMWhat the hell do these kids need laptops for?!
When I was in highschool (last year) we had pens, paper and a calculater for use in physics.
Though enterprising bully I was in highschool, I wouldn't mind it if all the kids had laptops, the local asian gang would certainly offer cash for a few of these.
Posted by: DaveJ at October 15, 2004 4:33 AMBig Time -
Don't be a moron. Nobody said that spending money on education is bad, but spending $1,400,000 on laptops that will not help students learn any better than other time-tested methods (like the pen, paper, and calculator that DaveJ mentioned) is stupid. These laptop will be used for little more than chat rooms, porn, and games, and you know it.
Funny, but taxpayers often dislike paying for that stuff. What is wrong with having a computer lab at the school? That seems to have worked for years, is easier to monitor, and it's far less expensive.
Posted by: roger at October 15, 2004 9:11 AM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
