14 OPINION

Kindergarten is a time of discovery for young children, a time that is spent playing with blocks and crayons, a time for a child to develop early social skills ... while staring blankly in front of his or her iPad. Wait ... What? Yep, you heard right, schools all across the country, including the Grand Ledge School District, have made the decision to do away with such learning tools as writing letters and numbers with salt tables, and to replace them with Apple tablets. The cost of this technologi-

Nov. 25 - Dec. 8, 2013 www.lcc.edu/lookout

Smart tablets: dumb decision for kids

should they be considered a necessity or a luxury? Lets face it, kids at this early stage in life are rambunctious and they run around screaming and yelling. A lot of kids at this stage in life are impulsive, and entrusting a child at this age with a $400 learning tool seems like a recipe for disaster. The iPad has been known to be one of the more fragile tablets. According to an article on Dailymail.co.uk , a school in England spend $500,000 on iPads for students. The article states half of the devices are now broken. Some schools have even gone as far as charging parents to pay for the schools broken tablets when a mishap occurs. Then there are the creative, motor and social implications of learning from a tablet compared to a handson approach. Children need physical cognitive skills. Sure, a computer can simulate a drawing program, but is it as rewarding as busting out a pad and paper and letting a childs imagination take over? They may recognize three plus five equals eight on a tablet, but do they really grasp the concept as why? Is having little Timmy and little Sarah playing an iPad app together as social and imaginative as playing a game of tag on the playground? Now before you start calling me old-fashioned and out of touch with todays digital age, let me explain I am not completely antitablet for education. I think when used at a proper age, tablets can be a valuable learning tool. But a kindergartners biggest concern should be about what he or she is going to have at snack time, not taking care of a $400 smart tablet.

cal experiment for Grand Ledge came to an astounding $180,000. Thats $180,000 of your hard tax dollars at work. I understand we are in a digital age where cellphones and smart tablets are commonplace in everyday life, but

LCC Homecoming goes beyond expectations

Homecoming at my old high school was as big of a deal as youd expect a high school homecoming to be. We had the pep rally, a spirit week with silly-themed days like superhero day, and a homecoming dance. This being my first year at LCC, I wasnt sure what exactly to expect when I heard that LCC also does a Homecoming. I expected college to be all serious business without fun events like Homefor an LCC spirit week, but I did not expect to see lots of vendors and tents as I walked outside of the Gannon Building Nov. 19. I walked outside to see free pizza, hot dogs, cotton candy, pencils, pens and even my favorite: Band-Aids. I was loving all this free stuff. My old high school never had free stuff for homecoming. I was in love. I was even more in love to see this event was going on all week. Not only was I impressed by all the free food and fun tents outside, but I was even more excited to find out the Criminal Justice Club was providing Laser Kombat in LCCs outdoor amphitheatre. I had never heard of it, but it sounded like something Id want to go to. It was different from anything Id ever experienced during a homecoming. All these cool events taking place around campus really made me happy. I got to see students come together and have fun through these events. I also got to get free food and learn about new clubs and events on campus. It really made me feel like LCC was a much bigger place than it actually is. I think Homecoming turned out really well. I met a bunch of new people, got interested in new things and had a lot of fun. Homecoming went past my expectations.

coming. Id heard about different types of events taking place

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