[Mpls] Re: School district cuts and computers

[KTrain9003]

I have to agree with the notion that computers in elementary schools are a waste of time and money. For that matter, the money spent on computers is not spent wisely. Given the relatively limited range of tasks that the students need to accomplish with them, the school districts wasting money buying desktop PCs or even commercial grade workstations.  What we really need to be buying for the high schools (and perhaps the middle schools) are network computers or thin clients driven by a central server or server cluster.  This would drastically reduce the risk of infection by viruses and the installation of unwanted software by students.  It would also reduce the cost of purchasing computers for students to a few hundred dollars including the monitor, as opposed to nearly $1000 for  a decent desktop model PC.

I don't claim to be a computer professional, but I have worked with computers for most of my adult life.  Much like any other educational tool, they are only as good as the software and the instructors provided with them. As things stand now with the Minneapolis public schools, I have no faith whatsoever that the school board will manage to provide more than a handful of the necessary qualified instructors.

Kevin Trainor
6-10. East Phillips