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Hallo everyone
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The newspapers last week had quite
a lot of news on young people. There was talk on the new tablet PCs which were
being tried out in a pilot project by students at Crescent Girls' School. A
reader wrote in to the Forum Page of The Straits Times1 (9
Aug 2004) to complain about expensive technology being "adopted more for
the 'cool factor' than any real or substantial benefits".
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Mr Sng said though his regular
textbooks "were far cheaper than these tablet PCs, they were still a
burden to my parents who had to put three children through school. I can't
imagine if they had had to buy three tablet PCs".
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In response, Crescent Girls'
School Principal Mrs Lee Bee Yann2 replied that "the
support expressed by the parents was overwhelming: 95 per cent signed up for
the trial and bought the tablet PCs".
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Mrs Lee added that "we have
also established a loan scheme for needy students and those whose parents are
unsure of making a purchase".
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I do not know the makeup of the
student population at Crescent Girls'. Are most of their students from
well-to-do families? Was it a case of keeping up with the Joneses when some of
these parents agreed to buy the PC tablets for their children? And which needy
parents would dare raise their hands for a loan unit?
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Also, did any parents have to
borrow money from relatives to buy the PC tablet so that their children would
not be looked down on? Personally, I agree with Mr Sng that such delicate
instruments costing thousands of dollars "place a large financial burden
on students and their families".
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Even with both parents working, it
is hard enough to support a family with school-going children, making sure
they get enough pocket money for school, let alone fork out hundreds of
dollars every month for the tablet PC.
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And it's only a pilot project.
When the whole thing has done its run and the people behind the project find
tablet PCs for prepubescent students aren't going to work out, the ones
bearing the brunt of this painful experience will be the parents, not those
running the project. These parents will be stuck with technology that becomes
obsolete within the space of one or two years. The only thing they can say
gladly on hindsight is that their children had the chance to tinker with these
gadgets in school, albeit at their expense.
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Even if the project were to
succeed, there would be more problems in its path. These will come when tablet
PCs are introduced to the students in the normal academic and normal technical
streams. Many of these students can't even take care of themselves - that's,
perhaps, why they come into these streams. How are they to be expected to take
good care of the delicate tablet PC?
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Moreover, many students,
particularly in the normal technical stream, come from broken homes. How are
they going to come out with money to buy these things?
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Sure, the government has deep
pockets. It can afford to come up with the S$1.5 billion (S$3000 per tablet PC
x 500,000 students) needed to put a tablet PC in the hands of every student in
Singapore. But, should we continue to have this mindset of expecting the
government to solve every foreseeable problem for us?
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I think the tablet PC project is
ahead of its time. When tablet PCs cost under S$500 - which may be sooner than
we expect - the tablet PC may well become an ubiquitous training tool of every
student in our schools.
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Perhaps, the people behind the
tablet PC project in our schools have already factored this in and are
projecting full rollout of tablet PCs in a few years' time when tablet PCs
become affordable to the masses. If that's the case, I take my hat off to
them!
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Have a good week!
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1 Technology for
its own sake - Straits Times Forum Page 9 Aug 2004
2 Tablet PCs in
schools offer wide range of benefits - Straits Times Forum Page 16 Aug 2004
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