There's no doubt that schools have done a piss pour job of keeping up with technology. The utter lack of real computer training is abysmal. Somehow learning how to make PowerPoints, Excel Spreadsheets, and MSWord Documents pass as technology training in many high schools. It's really pathetic! And then there are the mindless Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) that kids have to sign that sound like they were written by computer illiterate technophobes (who mistakenly believe that being able to use office software has something to do with technology education).
Several months back, the Los Angeles Unified School District shelled out $500 million on iPads for its students. Within a week of the first deployment, the schools were already repossessing the devices. Students found that the new tool was aggressively limited by school-installed software that turned the Information Superhighway into a dark tunnel that runs from the device to the school. So, they figured out how to circumvent the built-in "protections." And in doing so, lost access to the devices altogether.
However, this pathetic state of affairs is not entirely the fault of local administrators as one reader points out:
Federal CIPA (www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act) laws along with our litigious society have a major impact on the wording of educational APUs.
Some of the blame must also be given to mindless politicians who are more worried about protecting kids from "bad things" on the internet than about actually educating them!
LINK: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140919/12311228582/technology-improves-internet-expands-school-acceptable-use-policies-still-lock-students-out-benefits.shtml