Kids COULD do lots of extra cool things on computers. But mostly, they won’t. Not anytime soon. They’ll just read reference material on a computer screen instead of on paper.

Oh, and don’t forget there’s also the matter of paying to license all the software and reference materials. The computers don’t come with content. And don’t forget that books last longer and are far more durable than laptops.

I can’t wait for more school districts to try this out so we can see how much of the school budget is eaten up by the per-student costs for hardware+software+tech support. All you “damn the cost computers are awesome” folks are in for a seriously rude awakening. When school budget costs go WAY up and test scores do NOT, don’t act all surprised or defensive.