Apple Pledges $100 Million in Equipment to President Obama's ConnectED Initiative for Schools

Tuesday February 4, 2014 7:18 am PST by Kelly Hodgkins

U.S. President Barack Obama today is announcing $750 million in corporate commitments for his ConnectED initiative to provide students with greater access to high-speed Internet connections. Apple is a key member of the group and has pledged $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools, according to an Associated Press report.

Apple is pledging $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools. AT&T and Sprint are contributing free Internet service through their wireless networks. Verizon is pitching in up to $100 million in cash and in-kind contributions. And Microsoft is making Windows available at discounted prices and offering 12 million free copies of Microsoft Office software.

Obama was to announce the commitments Tuesday at a middle school in the Maryland suburbs near Washington. Also in the pipeline: an addition $2 billion that the Federal Communications Commission is setting aside from service fees over two years to connect another 20 million students to high-speed Internet.

ipad_education
During the recent State of the Union address, President Obama mentioned that Apple and other tech companies would be providing the hardware and software needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to the Internet in the next two years. Apple confirmed its role in the project in a statement provided to The Loop, but did not offer any specific details on its role at that time.

These corporate contributions will help fulfill ConnectED's goal of connecting 99 percent of U.S. students to the Internet within five years. When President Obama announced this goal last June, only one in five students had access to a broadband Internet connection.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Top Rated Comments

longofest

166 months ago

The earlier that kids start using the Internet, the earlier the NSA can record everything they do.

Wake up, sheeple :D

There's enough threads about the NSA in this forum. Let's please try to keep this one somewhat related to the topic at hand.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

YanniDepp

166 months ago

The earlier that kids start using the Internet, the earlier the NSA can record everything they do.

Wake up, sheeple :D

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Jsameds

166 months ago

"One hundred million dollars..."

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ArtOfWarfare

166 months ago

The problem we have right now is too many students doing poorly in grade school and too many people picking dumb majors when they go to university. In what way does this solve either problem?

I'd much rather if we simply:
1 - Raised how much we paid teachers. (This way, the best potential teachers, the people being paid top dollar to go work for private companies, will actually view being a grade school teacher as a worthwhile career. Right now, if you end up with a really good teacher, it's because they're either already content with how much money they made elsewhere and retired, or because they feel so strongly that we need better teachers that they're willing to take the massive pay cut.)
2 - Made it easier to fire teachers that are lousy.
3 - Offered more scholarships for people going into STEM majors. A lot more. School is many times more expensive than the scholarships we're offering right now.

Edit: I can't believe I left this one off. Someone else said it and I'd like to add their comment to my more prominent post:

As the spouse of a teacher for 22 years, I'll add:

4 - Require parents to become more involved. Not necessarily at the school itself, but in their child's education. No matter how much money is spent, how much (or little) teachers are paid, or how many hours the kids spend in school, or how many standardized tests they take, the most consistent and determining factor is the parents.

Edit: Good lord, why are you people supporting this? It wastes money and seems probable that it'll reduce the quality of education we give in public schools, not improve it.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)