[Hawiian Cadder]

Personally, I don't think the government buying students computers is a good idea.

My school recently decided to give all the incoming freshmen "laptops" I think that this will help 10 -15 percent of students. the reason is this. many students already have computers at home, and for their homework they will be using those, who would choose a laptop the school gives out, when many people have desktops at home, with a real keyboard, and a laptop built on a school budget, wont be able to match the speed and effectiveness of some of most of these systems.

For the 10-15 percent of students that do not have access to a computer at home, this might be beneficial, however, I still don't think that there are enough assignments where computers are necessary, i think a donation program where old computers are given to students who do not have one, would be better than giving out Laptops to everyone.

Personally, i think the best solution is to find a way to give the students information, and a way to better utilize computers. My thought on what would work the best is to distribute 8 or 16 gigabyte flash drives, with the latest version of one or more computerized encyclopedias, open office, and maybe a few other software items. this would allow students to use any computer, even without internet access for many projects. another thing to look at is the cost. a 16 gig flash drive can be had for around 15-20 dollars depending on a bulk discount, you could even go to 32 gigs and put more content on it. even the cheapest computers cannot match this.

There is one more advantage to giving out flash drives, they are virtually indestructible, and more likely to be returned working if lost. I have run them over, washed them, and they still work.