Should school children be given an iPad or some other affordable Netbook in place of Text Books?

At my school we can use online text books that we buy. We have to buy our books anyway so it does not matter the form. Students should not be given an iPad or netbook, but given the option.

Yes and no. Yes an iPad has iBooks, yes it can type documents, sure the internet is a great source of information, alright yes it's convenient- Even netbooks get online and perform office functions in amazing portability form factors, BUT. iPads are distracting, there are .. I'm not even going to guess how many apps out there now. This is very similar to why schools do not allow cellphones in class. In addition, iBooks -in my opinion- is great for some things but not others. It's much easier to carry than a big book, but it's just a little- clunky. Slower to make notes and highlight, sometimes harder to access. On top of that, don't you think handing every kid an iPad might be a little "spoiling"? I mean sure, our education system is better than most of the world's as it is, but if you give a kid an expensive piece of technology from the beginning of their remembrance, it just gives them a completely different perception on the world. Not everything is touch responsive, fun, and as easy as "slide to unlock". Sorry to come off negative, but in general, no.

Given? No, I don't want to pay for my slice of millions of tablets, many of which will be stolen, decades after I would have had a use for them myself.

Issued and sold in bulk at a discount? Absolutely. My tablet has rekindled my love of advanced mathematics. Pun intended.

i don't think that's a bad idea. (btw, the app store CAN be turned off/blocked on iOS. so being distracted by apps probbaly wouldn't be a huge problem.)

With the children's attitudes & current educational system the way it is, I'd advise strongly against throwing anymore money into that money pit. Teachers need to successfully teach the basics before giving gadgets.

• Is Technology Making It Easier or Harder To Cheat in School? | An iPad type device, would make it easier to cheat. It's worse than giving a calculator. How will these students learn the basics? Teachers aren't bright enough to catch the tech savvy cheaters.

• Kids have been mugged for Air Jordans. Now, the can get mugged for there iPad.

• Current iPads would need to withstand the abuse that children dish out on things that they don't own.

That question as already be answered by Chris: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNiSMyHLlqo

He had a really good explanation of why we should give school children iPads

My son has been using the school issued Mac Book Pro for two years now. He just started his third year with it and actually has the exact same one from when he started. I feel that the PC, IPAD, whatever in the school environment is a good thing. It allows districts or even states to change curriculum on the fly. There's no more "my dog ate my homework" because the kids in our schools here at least email their completed assignments straight to the teacher. Children today are being put in positions to prepare visual presentations which helps them become better at public speaking. Yes, there's downfalls as well like Itunes and other apps. But there are also controls in place to help with that. Our school districts IT department has put some awesome group policies together to prevent kids from using their laptops to get on not so good sites while at home. My opinion in short is that yes they are a good idea. They teach responsibility, they reduce budget issues, and they truly prepare kids for the work environment of the future.

i dont, our school gives the pupils laptops, and the system does not work. full stop. there are about 1/100 people who look after the laptops, but the it guys have a such a bad attitude towards us, they explain stuff in jargon, and dont seem to care about their jobs or the comptuers only stopping ius from using them we pay £36 a month $50ish, for 40 months for a lptop worth no more than 400. our school are currently charging us twice as much for the netbooks they hand out. they are slow, weak and a waste of time, i have bought my own laptop and take that in

Going into 8th grade in just a couple weeks, I can say first hand that I would love to be given some type of portable computer instead of books. It would just be so much easier...