Laptops in backpacks

Gov. Angus King and others promote the idea that our schools need more computers and bandwidth to improve education. I question whether there is strong scientific evidence to support this premise. I refer to the writings of Yale computer scientist David Gelernter, including “Should Schools Be Wired To Internet” and “The Computer Delusion” by Oppenheimer.

Many unbiased computer scientists believe more computers in schools is an appeasement gimmick to counter frustration of poor academic results. Insufficient data is not the problem; a lifelong love of learning results from inspired teachers and mentors and habits formed in early childhood. Skip Feldman North Brooklin

What a Santa Claus idea, giving all seventh-graders a laptop computer. Dad did that kind of grandstanding one year, but then mom stepped in and instead of 10-speed bikes we got boots, coats and a warm house.

How about giving these seventh-graders, who may or may not still be getting schooled in trailers, the gift of laptops via their underpaid, undereducated, car-less moms? No child care worries, no transportation needs; they could still work, and the University of Maine student fees would take care of the Internet costs. Then the moms could enroll within the UMaine System’s CED Webct program, get state incentives, financial aid, a degree and good jobs. Then the moms could buy their seventh-graders laptops themselves. Mary Cylch-Gwydd Corinna

Gov. King’s laptop initiative has the potential of uniting all the areas of the state, helping to eliminate what is more commonly thought of as the “two Maines.” To do this would be an accomplishment and would help bring Maine into the new millennium as a united people with common goals and the tools to use to obtain them. These tools will enable our children to build on the future commensurate with the challenges they continue to face with each passing moment. Bob Campbell Glenburn

A laptop in a backpack is nice, until you look at a Maine winter and where those backpacks are normally dropped after school; on the porch, while the students go to play with their friends. Laptops use batteries which decrease in strength as temperatures go down. Maybe a spare battery should be available. Is Gov. King going to pay for it?

Laptops get broken for a variety of reasons, not just the young student screwing it up; adults are well versed in screwing things up, too — they’ve had more experience at it. So now the computer needs to be repaired or replaced.

Inside of a school building each room would have to be wired so each desk could utilize a laptop with modem to have full use of the World Wide Web by students. Lots of work and lots of money.

Just giving every seventh-grader’s laptop is only the tip of the iceberg, the one that sank the Titanic. Gov. King should have a cost analysis done on how much it would cost Maine to have all classrooms in one school cabled for computer usage. Then he should multiply that cost for each and every classroom in the entire state.

A great idea, but one that has to be gone at one step at a time. The first step doesn’t start with giving a student a laptop. It starts now, with redesigning classrooms and rebuilding schools, if needed, to utilize the technology. Casimer P. Zakrzewski Bar Harbor

Gov. King seems so anxious to be remembered as a forward-looking governor that he has proposed a project with great PR value but very low feasibility. He, an intelligent person, surely knows this gift is not going to pass the Legislature, but he will indeed be known for suggesting it. To propose a service whose idea children will find exciting, when you know it’s not apt to be provided, can only be described as the most cynical political grandstanding. The children probably will never receive the offered machines, but King may very well still garner undeserved kudos. Farnham Blair Blue Hill