When Should You Buy Your Kid A Laptop? 856
GuitarNeophyte writes "Marketwatch News reports that some people say that we should be buying our kids laptop computers well before they get into the higher education realm. Even as early as middle school. From the article: 'These days, it's almost unquestioned that college-bound students will tote laptops back to school. For parents of high school and middle school kids, the decision to invest in a laptop is far from given.'"
Welcome to hypeland (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmm.. (Score:5, Interesting)
A really good idea would be for school boards to develope a little knoppix type system that could be provided to kids as nessecary - on a DVD-RW perhaps, to allow for saving their projects.
I'm only six years out of school, but I swear, kids these days are amazing. At 12, most can type quite quickly. When I was in school, at 15 I was one of three students that could type with any speed.
Re:Worked for me (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm with you. As soon as my son is a little older (he's 13 months now), I'm making sure he knows his way around a computer. Can't see the point of waiting until they reach high-school age. It would be like not teaching your kid to read until 13 years old, back in the mid-20th century.
Kids are best at learning when they're young, especially when it comes to languages. I haven't seen any research on this, but I imagine that also applies to learning the "vocabulary" of computers (and almost certainly to programming languages).
Depends on the kid (Score:3, Interesting)
Now if you're such a paranoid parent that you still want parental control of the Internet at high school age, it's easy enough to share the internet connection out of the family computer via wire or wireless, filtering pages through a firewall at the family computer (not perfect but helps). However, absolutely do not touch the kid's computer. If you did, there wouldn't be a point in getting it.
Mine started at 18 months (Score:3, Interesting)
He's now 2 1/2. With some effort, he can pretty much move the mouse to where he wants to go and has the idea of clicking down, though he often wants me to do it for him becuase it's easier. There's all sorts of great educational flash animations out there for him. After about 10 to 15 minutes, he gets bored and then moves onto some other activity. He plays with the computer only a couple of times a week, nothing heavy duty. Every once in a while I bring him up to my computer and let him watch me work on the computer, telling him in very basic terms what I'm doing.
Anyway, the kid's going to grow up thinking of the computer as an extension of himself. There's no question they're going to play ever increasing roles in our lives. His generation is bound to be a very different kind of generation.
Never understood the laptop craze (Score:1, Interesting)
So I guess my answer would be "I wouldn't just buy my kid a laptop." Make sure s/he's computer literate? Sure. Encourage him/her to explore potential talents in computers? Of course. Buy him/her a laptop just because s/he's a certain age? Nope.
Laptops before post secondary?! - HA (Score:2, Interesting)
No kidding, my 3 year old has her own Laptop. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Worked for me (Score:5, Interesting)
If you commute to school, a laptop can help out a lot. If you live on campus, it helps but not as much.
I was never was that big of a jerk to play a game during class, though once or twice I browsed in Internet wirelessly or did a project for another course. But those times were rare.
What came in handy for me was being able to get certain work done. Yes, we had PC labs scattered around but only a small handful of them had the tools I used to make my life easier (ie, something more than MS Word and a telnet connection). Also, you usually had to wait around for some jerk to finish checking their hotmail account and using the Java AOL IM to talk to their pals in the next building.
With a laptop I could just sit in the library or on the Green and work on whatever project I needed to, knowing I had all of my tools and data at my disposal.
If you live on campus, the benefit is not as great since you could always walk back to your room and use a desktop. But even then, on busy days or when doing a project with a group in the library a laptop can be pretty helpful.
Now that you can get a Celeron laptop for like 600 or 700 USD on sale from Dell, the expense isn't that high (plus you make sure the kid can't play too many games since his rig can't handle them).
Re:keep their monitor in view (Score:3, Interesting)
I grew up with a computer in my room and I spent many, many more hours learning how my own personal computer worked because I wasn't afraid of screwing it up for somebody else, which was always the case when I was working on a shared computer. The experience ended up being one of the greatest learning opportunities of my entire life (perhaps the most).
Did I get into things I shouldn't have? Occasionally; but, it wasn't like I couldn't gain access to it some other way, anyhow. More often than not, I spent my time learning how to program, installing and learning various operating systems, such as DOS 5.0+, Linux, SCO Unix, Novell Netware and OS2.
We let our kids read books in their room. Why not let them have a computer? If you're worried about your kids getting into adult material, use one of the ever growing list of software packages that help restrict such material (and I have nothing against doing this).
Re:keep their monitor in view (Score:3, Interesting)
- Someone else is responsible for your behaviour.
- Some things are okay to do as long as you don't get caught.
If your child does not understand personal responsibility already then they should not be allowed access to the Internet. You can't watch your children all of the time, and if you shouldn't have to. If you create the atmosphere where things are exciting and concealed then you are creating a situation where they will wait until your backs are turned before doing them.What are you afraid of them seeing? Why are you afraid of them seeing it? Why are you not afraid of yourself seeing them? Consider these three questions, and teach your child to absorb the part of your frame of mind that means that you don't have to worry about yourself.
Maybe it should be questioned (Score:2, Interesting)
I have bought my college students desktops. While the idea of using a laptop to take notes in class, or to work on a term paper out on the front lawn, is an appealing daydream, it isn't reality. And laptops have a bad habit of disappearing, while desktop boat anchors are considerably less likely to sprout legs and walk away.
I know of many parents who did the same, though I know of just as many who have bought their kids laptops, with associated anti-theft devices, and have paid twice as much for a system with a cramped keyboard and restricted expandibility that will spend most of its time in the dorm anyway.
Given that, I'm not sure why I would buy a laptop instead of a desktop for a middle-school child. In fact, I didn't. They shared a family PC until high school, at which point I got them Linux-based desktops.
Get your child a violin instead (Score:1, Interesting)
Of course, buying a violin and forcing the kids to take lessons doesn't necessarily give the skills, either, but the possible benefit is much greater.
See http://www.mca.org.au/mpfl/research1.htm [mca.org.au], among other pages, detailing research about how musical skills is much better for cognitive development.
Re:Worked for me (Score:5, Interesting)
By opening up a text editor on my laptop and allowing her to type, she was able to start "writing" more than a year before she could have otherwise. Look at the keyboard, find the letter you want, press it, and it draws itself. It's like magic!
Re:Bullies (Score:3, Interesting)
1.) Make no mistake, high school is like prison. You are forced to go, to live a predictable schedule, which means that, tactically, they know where to find you, every minute of every day.
2.) If you get attacked, and go to the authorities, they will attempt to remedy the situation (maybe), but they cannot protect you from your attackers indefinitely, and you are not allowed to defend yourself.
3.) If you do defend yourself, you get detention / suspension, because of the zero tolerance policy against fighting.
4.) It is hardly ever one on one; there are usually a group of them, which means that (unless you are very good), if you try and fight them, you will lose.
5.) If I ever did fight back, I would end up catching hell at home.
6.) Carrying a weapon (to even the odds) will get you expelled, even if your assailants are armed.
Now, as an adult, it's easier to say that. Basically, any hostility you encounter as an adult is basically a meeting engagement - it's unlikely that you're going to have to come back to the place where you're victimized. Additionally, you can carry/have a weapon, and if it is indeed a justifiable use of force (see Florida Castle Doctrine laws), you won't be prosecuted for it.
Re:Worked for me (Score:3, Interesting)
I never had a laptop in college, as I could never justify the expense (I would of been buying it myself). Even if I had one, I probably wouldn't of taken it that many places - pen and paper is a lot better medium for taking notes. It would of been nice to haul back to my parent's place to have a computer to use though.
When? Never. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm afraid that if we introduce computers to children too early that they will lose the ability to be creative, think for themselves, and troubleshoot.
-Nick
Helpful for kids in Junior High (Score:3, Interesting)
The mobility is not essential to her, but it is helpful. Several of her friends have laptops, and they will all occasionally get together to work on joint projects (no, really, I've seen them actually doing homework - not that they don't play around a lot too). Works a lot better than trying to collaborate on homework via IM, although I've seen them doing that as well.
Tangentially - we really need to do something to make it easier for kids whose parents can't afford to drop $500-$1000 (or more) on a computer. School computer labs around here don't cut it - they're mostly rather old Macs and PCs running older crap operating systems. The homework assigned nowadays seems to just about assume everyone has access to a computer. Maybe I need to just run around with a baseball bat and "talk" to the parents who vote against the school levies and bond issues around here...
Re:Grow up. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'll bet you're one of those guys who can't understand why people get so upset when you shine your laser pointer at the movie screen.
If thirty people are gathered in a room for the express purpose of taking a class, why should they put up with somebody engaging in distracting behavior? Or do you sincerely believe that a student playing a videogame in the front row is not a distraction? Do you think it'd be OK if he played a game of Solitare with real cards during class? How about if he were playing WoW instead of Solitare--sound off, of course?
Well, from a first-hand point of view... (Score:1, Interesting)
I saved up for my Dell Inspiron 1200 on my own last year, when I was in the 8th grade. I'm actually on it now. I adore it, probably since I've been wanting one (and asking for one every Christmas) ever since my parents can remember, so when I saved up for it and worked for the money, I was immensely proud of myself.
Now, I have to agree with some people when they say that high schoolers aren't mature enough for laptops. I've seen some my age handle their cell phones (and if I was their parent, I would make them pay for it). I also won't be taking my laptop to school this year, mainly because I'm not getting it stolen from me and I'm not letting it get broken in the halls.
So, I think if the child can handle it, and has been around computers for a while, then the child should get a laptop. But not just some kid who doesn't know a PC from Mac or Linux from Windows. But then again, they shouldn't even be around computers if they don't know Linux from Windows.
As soon as he wants one (Score:3, Interesting)
As for what to buy, if you can afford it, I'd recommend buying a Tablet PC (convertible). It might make him more popular in class (though it might not), it's very useful for taking notes in the class and it's just plain cool. Not to mention that it will be common in 2-3 years and you would ensure your child stays ahead of the curve.
Re:Worked for me (Score:3, Interesting)
I have got bad handwriting. According to specialists it's caused by abnormally low muscle tone in my fingers coupled with fine motor control problems in my cerebellum. It's actually severe enough to be classed as a physical disability. Since the age of four when it was first diagnosed, I have had many sessions with doctors and occupational therapists and have spent countless hours with hand exercises, handwriting practice, calligraphy practice and coordination exercises. My writing is still illegible, even to me despite this. So basically, what I do is avoid handwriting at all costs, it works out better than you'd think. My typing skills suffer from the same problems of cause, but through a lot of practice I've learned to do about 60wpm on a good day.
I'm nowhere near the only person with major physical problems with handwriting, there would be many other people on Slashdot with the same problem at varying levels of severity. Sometimes this is caused by hand problems, coordination problems, injury, learning difficulties, genetic defects and many other things. Everybody has a few things they are not good at, I think labeling those who are not good at handwriting as lazy is kind of dumb.