Blinded by the (iPad) Hype

I really must ask: Are those marketing wizards in Cupertino so powerful that we are all blinded to reality? I think so, because that’s the only explanation I can come up with for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s misguided, $1 billion program to give $678 iPads to every student in a district – in a district where classes are overloaded, student performance is below par and businesses complain that they can’t find enough prospective employees who can add 2 plus 2. And it’s not just district administrators who may be partially sighted. Even critics seem to be missing a major point. In all the discussion I have read over this fiasco, which predictably has seen students lose and abuse the tablets, not once have I seen this basic question asked: why iPads? I am not a Luddite. I am not against giving students access to 21st century technology, especially when they may lack such technology at home. That’s been done for years in school computer labs. In fact, in 2013 most would agree it’s likely a vital aspect of secondary education. But why iPads? Has anyone at the district ever heard of Google Shopping? Or perhaps took a gander at Amazon. com or some other online marketplace? Maybe if they did, they would have noticed that a perfectly fine Android tablet could be had for perhaps half the price of a fine but overpriced Apple product. Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t own an iPad and have a far cheaper competitor’s tablet. But I did spend some quality time this summer with an even more expensive version of the iPad that cost my sister more than $800. Oh, it was nice. It had a beautiful screen, generous memory and could access the Internet via cellular networks. But I would be hard pressed to understand how any current tablet is really good for anything more than media consumption and basic computing – functions, by the way, that a cheap desktop that can’t be lost can perform just as well, and for just a few hundred bucks. So let’s do some rough math, even if the district board and Superintendent John Deasy never bothered. I checked online and found all sorts of 10 inch Android tablets for $300 or under. Want to do better than that and get a killer one? Even a Google Nexus 10 with the latest Android operating system costs $399 retail, without any bulk discount. My point? If the tablets’ costs are cut by hundreds of dollars each we are talking savings in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars. I suppose in some fantasyland where a school district has unlimited resources that’s no big deal. After all, I’m sure that every Los Angeles campus and classroom is equipped with everything it needs. Oh, but I forgot. The district does have unlimited resources. They have billions from bond measures passed by voters. What’s a few billion on a poorly conceived technology program when there’s more in the till? I guess I wouldn’t feel quite so infuriated if I hadn’t attended the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s Annual Business Forecast Conference Oct. 4 at the Burbank Airport Marriott. While there, I sat in on a panel that discussed the challenges facing the manufacturing industry in Los Angeles. If there was one message that all the participants made clear, was that finding and training competent workers is perhaps their biggest challenge. It’s really an old tale: companies being forced to conduct remedial education of workers who somehow managed to get high school diplomas despite not being able to add or spell. Or worse, simply dropped out. The speakers bemoaned how districts, including LAUSD, are eliminating shop and trade courses, as if every graduate is going to get a college computer degree and become an Internet entrepreneur. Why not spend some of those iPad funds on equipment for modern trade classes that might help students get real jobs and inspire them to complete their education? In a district where 66 percent of students do not graduate, there certainly are more efficient ways to spend such money. Really want to get computers into the hands of every kid? Order desktops for every classroom. Decent desktops equipped with screens can be had for far less than a tricked out iPad. And you would only need one for every desk, not every student. Isn’t this common sense? Do we really need to put iPads in every student’s hand? Or all we all blinded by the hype? I know I put on my shades quite a while ago. Laurence Darmiento is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].