arstechnica.com — A rural Arkansas school district hopes to turn school buses into classrooms by providing students with iPods and laptops. Unlike Michigan's dubious one iPod per child program, Arkansas's Aspirnaut Initiative is highly targeted and has a clearly defined set of goals.
Apr 17, 2007 View in Crawl 4
sonicrun222Apr 17, 2007
It IS Arkansas. does this story surprise ANYONE? These people make babies with their COUSINS.
iamjamesApr 18, 2007
so they're just going to hand ipods and laptops to kids and say "study"? Here's a better idea: put a teacher on the bus... wait, why use a bus at all? Couldn't the put a mobile home out there somewhere and have one teacher on staff? Mobile home is less than 30 grand and land is dirt cheap in rural areas, unless each kid lives 30 minutes from the next, then it wouldn't work.Although I agree a 3-hour bus ride is bs, I just don't understand how a laptop and ipod is any better than just having a book and a teacher. But at least they're only trying this on one bus not the entire state. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out at the end of the 3 years.
Closed AccountApr 18, 2007
Move the f**k out of the boonies then.
cheezemonkeyApr 18, 2007
that had better be a joke (and not a very good one at that)... otherwise... wow RTFA
ij00miniApr 18, 2007
Did no one else think of the Magic School Bus?Let's hope these shrink to a microscopic size, too. That's where all the real learning is to be had.
jondeeApr 18, 2007
What does that even mean?!? I guess I just don't get the joke. I'm from Sheridan and I went to Sheridan High School, and the "African-Americans" sit wherever they want. But I think you mean black people instead of African-Americans (and they sit wherever they want too). I seriously doubt that all black people were born in Africa, it's a horribly broad generalization that needs to end.
zippoApr 18, 2007
In other news, parents all throughout rural Arkansas are confused and angered as there has been a huge rise in motion sickness throughout the young population. More from Billy-Bob Joe in a moment.
leftymgpApr 18, 2007
@eggoPretty much...When I tell people here (DC) that I grew up in Arkansas, they immediately respond with something to the effect of, "Oh, I'm sorry". Most of the time, they know the state only from the usual stereotypes. If I'm feeling energetic, I'll explain to them how my hometown is constantly ranked as one of the nicest places to live nationally. But most of the time I'll just repeat the state motto. :)And to weigh in on the article... What ever happened to reading a book? You can't trick kids into studying with shiny ipods and laptops. Kids can smell educational software from miles away. This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart was playing a video game where you destroyed state capitals. Then, after realizing that he was learning the state capitals, he immediately quit playing.Why don't they just put a TV on the bus and play episodes of Mr. Wizard? That sounds much cheaper and just as effective.
guynamedlucasApr 18, 2007
How would you waste time on the Internet on the bus?
rubahApr 19, 2007
Who's going to pay for it? Where are you going to get teachers? What would the kids think?Just four years ago, whispers of "consolidation" were freaking the students and many faculty out here in AR. Very few schools were actually consolidated, but the need in Arkansas is for fewer schools. In class today, my Physics teacher was talking about how few teachers come to Arkansas because there isn't enough money to pay them; he cited a school that was looking for one person to teach physics, chem, physical science, and 7th grade life science. Schools where many kids drive over an hour to get there isn't uncommon. The population distribution in Arkansas is very erratic. You have dense areas along the Arkansas River, where I live, but if you head north into the Ozarks, you'll find towns with populations in the 100s, where a school just could not be sustained by anything. It's pretty much a catch-22. Our schools already built are crowded (mine has added two trailer buildings that we all make fun of to hold classes in. After a junior high was built, they aren't as necessary, but since my school doesn't completely suck (low wages, but at least they got more of a raise than many places) there are a lot of people who come here despite closer schools because it isn't as degenerate, smaller, the teachers care etc. It's kinda a scholastic haven. But outside of a small sphere of population, schools get scarce. In Arkansas history, I think we learned that Arkansas had over 400 schools sometime around the turn of the 20th century? Just because the population is so spread out so thin. There isn't enough people to support another school district, nor the money to maintain it anyways. At the very least, it'll keep the kids occupied for so long in their days!