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Culture

from the that-time-of-year dept

I guess it’s that time of year again. Wired has put together a collection of articles having to do with technology in school, which can only mean that schools are starting up for another year (with a lack of seasonal changes in California, and no children of my own to deal with, this is the only indication I get). They have one article about new technologies to watch over students at school, as the perception that schoolkids are constantly in danger continues to grow. Despite the fact that studies show the number of kidnappings is going down, parents are still ordering Lojack-like solutions to strap to their kids, so they can check on their whereabouts every second of the day. Meanwhile, if you’re just checking your kids whereabouts, you might not notice the fact that they’re not really doing any homework, but instead are downloading the homework that others have done for them. It seems that while dot coms flop left and right, online paper download sites are going strong. Finally, if you decide to keep your kid out of regular school altogether and consider signing them up for an online school, you might want to read the saga of Einstein Academy, and online charter school that people are trying to shut down for many violations. It sounds like the school was set up as a way to get free money from the state for its founders.