Apple ships thousands of donated iPads to America's poorest schools
According to a report by Phillip Elmer-Dewitt writing for Fortune, more than 9,000 members of the Teach for America corps were each offered refurbished iPads.
The program asked new teachers in an email, "What could an iPad do for your classroom and your students? Well, we're asking you to help us answer this question."
Apple has been distributing the new hardware over the past two weekends. The report cited Katie Remington, a new teacher running the science department in an inner-city St. Louis school, as having received a like-new refurbished model.
After her first day with the new device Remington wrote, "So far, I've figured out it can make them finish their work fast for 'iPad time.'"
Steve Jobs' wife Laurene Powell sits on the board of directors of the Teach for America program. The program targets 15 million American children who live in poverty, working to deliver an excellent education for disadvantaged kids.
The program helps pay for students' relocation costs and student loans in exchange for a two year commitment to work in under-resourced urban and rural public school.
25 Comments
Sweet! Got a similar local & private deal collecting iPad 1s & even 2s for use by schools for non-neurotypical. Bravo Apple and Apple customers.
FIrst I wanna say I think this is an awesome, awesome idea. No one wants the first iPad anymore and if these kids start learning the OS, they'll be more inclined to prefer it in the future.
But with that being said, Inner City + Demanded piece of tech gear = ___________ .
Good luck teachers and smaller kids walking home. Hope you can download some kind of karate app.
Again Apple drops the ball, they have to resources to just give these kids iPads. their idea of charity is for others to do the buying, jeez.
Apple has been collecting original iPad models donated by iPad 2 buyers in a program supporting Teach for America, which trains college graduates to handle the job of teaching in the nation's poorest schools. ...
It's great that a bunch of folks got free iPads and all, but I wonder when (if ever!) people will finally realise that throwing technology at a classroom doesn't actually help anyone learn any better?
Computers for poor kids, just makes the first-world types feel better about their choices. It doesn't magically help kids learn any better or improve their lives. The OLPC fiasco proved that definitively even if the decades of earlier research didn't convince anyone yet.
Again Apple drops the ball, they have to resources to just give these kids iPads. their idea of charity is for others to do the buying, jeez.
all I can do is laugh; not even worth getting annoyed over such inanity.