Senate President pro term of the Georgia State Senate told reporters this week that state officials are considering accepting an offer from Apple to swap textbooks for iPads in Georgia classrooms.
AJC, quoting Tommie Williams (R-Lyons): “Last week we met with Apple Computers, and they have a really promising program where they come in and their recommending to middle schools – for $500 per child per year, they will furnish every child with an iPad, wi-fi the system, provide all the books on the system, all the upgrades, all the teacher training – and the results they’re getting from these kids is phenomenal.”
He goes on to say: “We’re currently spending about $40 million a year on books. And they last about seven years. We have books that don’t even have 9/11. This is the way kids are learning, and we need to be willing to move in that direction.”
A blogger for the AJC responds: “Figuring there are probably about half a million middle school students in Georgia, how are we saving any money spending $500 per student per year, which is what Williams said at the press conference today? (This morning, I received the actual numbers of middle schoolers: 377,478 middle schoolers reported enrolled this fall. At $500 apiece, that’s $188,739,000. Thanks, Quanalyst).”
Archived: "Distracted Reading" (Winter 2011) 