Milton High School in Vermont is following in the footsteps of other US schools in implementing a netbook program for their kids. Behold:
134 freshman got their Acer netbooks this September, and it's caught on wildly with students and teachers alike. Kids like the convenience of typing notes over scribbling them down. Students use a school network to check assignments and see recent grades posted to a private account.
Milton High School has a more engaged plan than other Vermont schools, and plans to get netbooks to all of their students by 2012. Students keep their netbooks for the entirety of their high school careers, turning them in during the summer.
A few issues have arisen with the program, one that any college student is familiar with – kids playing games and checking Facebook during class. Though a security plan is in action, Principal Anne Blake preferred to focus on the cause rather than the sympoms:
"How do we teach responsible use? …We can spend our whole future talking about blocking."
Families pay a $25 insurance fee for the netbooks. The netbook program cost the school district $300,000 this year, $78,000 of which was for the machines themselves and half of which will be paid for by federal stimulus money. The rest was for wireless internet and other infrastructure necessary to uphold the netbook program.
The netbooks for 6-7 hours on one charge – just long enough for a school day.
Via BurlingtonFreePress.
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