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The battle over the $13-billion market for educational technology has spread to Ohio’s Amish country, where many students live without electricity, television or phones.
Many Amish families live a traditional lifestyle without modern devices, but in the last few years, the local schools have embraced technology with a White House
initiative
aiming to connect 99 percent of classrooms to the Internet by 2018.
The Apple iPad and Google Chromebook, which compete for sales in the education technology market, are both in Amish schools. A group of parents in Ohio’s Southeast Local School District, which has a large Amish population, originally raised money to buy iPads. But after the district received an Ohio state grant of over $400,000 for technology, teachers and administrators chose Chromebooks.
Amish parents want their children to have computer skills for jobs and future careers, but they are also concerned about inappropriate websites. Some schools adopted a third device, the LearnPad, because teachers can control everything that goes on it.
Even students who do not have access to computers at home have picked up technology skills quickly, teacher Sarah Meenan said. “The Amish kids really want to learn, so they catch on quick because they want to be up to speed with everybody else,” she said.
Warm up questions
- What are the differences between tablets, laptops and desk top computers?
- Which device is better for school work and learning?
- Why does Apple want schools to use iPads and Google want schools to use Chromebooks?
Critical thinking questions
- How would your life be different if you only used the Internet at school?
- Given that many Amish students’ families do not want to use technology, do you think schools should encourage students to do so at school? Why or why not?
- In this report, what reasons did people give for using iPads? For using Chromebooks? For using LearnPads?
- What do you think school will be like in 5 years? Which devices will you be using and why?
