News 60,000 NYC Kids Can’t Attend Remote Classes. You Can Help.

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A charity needs your old computers to help kids attend school. In New York, where all NYC public schools are currently closed and many students were remote or in-person only part-time before that, it's estimated that as many as 60,000 kids don't have the tools they need.

Donations can be made here.

Read the full story here: 60,000 NYC Kids Can’t Attend Remote Classes. You Can Help.

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CerianK

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I'm not near NYC, but this seems like a good task for the Zuck since:
  1. He had no trouble providing $350 million to assist voting in cities prior to the US election.
  2. Research shows addiction to social media to be the norm for kids today (to their detriment... I have two in that boat), so would be good for PR.
 
However, a few weeks ago, Hampton saw an article about Kimani Anderson, a 9 year old Bronix girl whose mother was on the verge of being reported to child services for truancy because her school-issued iPad was broken.
Well there's the problem. Why is the school system issuing iPads and not something like Amazon Fire tablets, or Chromebooks, or other budget devices? According to this article from April, the NYC Department of Education had already spent over $269 million on just 300,000 iPads for remote learning, and they have likely sunk more money into them since...


The iPads with cases cost them $480 each, plus what sounds like internet connectivity and software bringing the total up around $900 per device. And of course, they were seeking reimbursement from the federal government for their poor spending practices. There are tablets for under $100 that would be suitable enough for remote learning, or for around $200, they could have got something like Chromebooks, which would be even better for learning on than a strictly touchscreen device. And if something happens to them, they would be inexpensive to replace, so they could have a big stockpile of the devices in reserve.
 
Lots of highschools get the bare minimum chrome books and acer notebooks, terrible, terrible machines in my highschool experience. Kids always watched movies during class, gamed, etc etc.

I hated using the laptops.

Then bring it to tech school, where I was issued a pretty decent gaming laptop, my online general education courses were all online----
Actually cheated through all of them except for the ones I couldn't (communications and some other writing course)
Kids today know these things exist and I don't believe online learning is learning at all. When you are being forced to teach yourself, why have a teacher.
Now if you're actually interested in the subject and teach yourself online, that works, but if you have the drive you can use the internet to learn about anything you want.
Not to mention the technically illiterate teachers thrown into the mess.
 
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Lots of highschools get the bare minimum chrome books and acer notebooks, terrible, terrible machines in my highschool experience. Kids always watched movies during class, gamed, etc etc.

I hated using the laptops.

Then bring it to tech school, where I was issued a pretty decent gaming laptop, my online general education courses were all online----
Actually cheated through all of them except for the ones I couldn't (communications and some other writing course)
Kids today know these things exist and I don't believe online learning is learning at all. When you are being forced to teach yourself, why have a teacher.
Now if you're actually interested in the subject and teach yourself online, that works, but if you have the drive you can use the internet to learn about anything you want.
Not to mention the technically illiterate teachers thrown into the mess.
The problem today is - What do you do when you actually can't go to the classroom?
Online something would seem to be the only short term alternative.
 

Co BIY

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Reduce teacher pay proportional to the amount of education being accomplished and I bet the schools open right quick.

They'll discover "the science"' that kids are hardly effected by the COcold and rarely spread it.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-schools-is-questioned-in-latest-nordic-study

My kids have been in and out of school as the public health authorities force them home every time a two kids get a sniffle simultaneously. The on-line education is inefficient and basically only as good as the teacher (parents) organizing it at home. Very few middle school kids ( or high school kids or even college level young adults ) are going to be able to organize their study or do the work independently. That is why we have built these huge institutions and funded them lavishly.

The time at home has been very educational as they read more and help around the house. My son and I built a greenhouse and learned that farming is harder than it looks! We also built a computer (not a gaming computer as far as his mom knows) for at home learning. Pretty sure he has learned more from the greenhouse (the greenhouse does not run Minecraft very well).
 
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bigdragon

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As an adult, I dislike purely online learning. Hybrid is my preference. If I were a kid forced to do online for weeks, months, or an entire school year, then I would absolutely go crazy. I'd rather be outdoors in the cold than stuck staring at a computer 5-8+ hours a day.

All of the companies and officials involved in virtual learning in NYC need a serious audit. Overpaying for iPad hardware, related service, and maintenance fees is ridiculous. The "public-private partnerships" set up to manage learning during the pandemic appear to be mainly wealth transfer organizations. People complain about the government being inefficient and private business charging too much. Looks like NYC is getting the worst of both worlds!
 
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stressato

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As an adult, I dislike purely online learning. Hybrid is my preference. If I were a kid forced to do online for weeks, months, or an entire school year, then I would absolutely go crazy. I'd rather be outdoors in the cold than stuck staring at a computer 5-8+ hours a day.

All of the companies and officials involved in virtual learning in NYC need a serious audit. Overpaying for iPad hardware, related service, and maintenance fees is ridiculous. The "public-private partnerships" set up to manage learning during the pandemic appear to be mainly wealth transfer organizations. People complain about the government being inefficient and private business charging too much. Looks like NYC is getting the worst of both worlds!
I'm fine with online classes
 
Feb 11, 2021
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how do i help?? is there anyone who can work on a motherboard i have 2 that work im just not tech savy and they wont boot there quality baords z97 gaming 5 and z97 g45