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College students are to be given free iPods so they can catch up on missed lectures in their own time.
South Kent College in Dover has spent £25,000 on Nano iPods for 250 students in the hope they will listen to podcasts of lectures, as well as music.
Assistant principal Josh Coleman said he had looked to the US and Australia for new ways to encourage learning.
But pressure group Campaign for Real Education said it was wrong to offer bribes and it devalued education.
CRE chairman Nick Seaton said: "Youngsters should want to take the courses for their own sake if they are worthwhile.
"Let the college keep two or three iPods to lend to the youngsters.
"It's a scandalous waste of taxpayers' money."
But Mr Coleman said the MP3 players would only be handed out next month to those teenagers who had completed all their assignments and had full attendance.
AT FIRST! SOmething for the GOOD students! Unllike those shitty incentives for thick duffers.
Hey thats pretty cool I wish some of my schools did that. I know this one tech college I went too would sell there old dell computers to students when they upgraded there technology. I never went that route but I guess it all could be a good thing.
what a great idea, good for that uni, i think it's great that pupils that are doing well at uni/school/college should get somthing in return and an ipod nano can give two different aspects to student life, one aspect for education, using it for lectures, work, essay's and then for the leisure aspect allowing students to view video's and listen to music.
Im glad educational establishments are thinking outside the box and using different methods to get more people envolved in higher education and for an incentive to do well in education.
Well i think its a great idea of rewarding those students who stick hard at their subject and do well. I do like that fact that students who benefit from an Educational Mateniance Allowence (EMA) in britian are mainly the students who mess around in class and disrupt everyone's learning. I do see why i dont get an EMA just because my parents earn just over £30,000 a year, i mean shouldn't they be giving an EMA to students who bother to do well in classes? the whole point of the EMA is to get students with bad attendence to come to school but i've seen the system tricked by students telling lies or teachers not blatently bothered about the fact that the student was not their for their lesson but is being payed about £40 ($80) for one week!
Seriously more should be done to encourage the hard working students who do well as student whatever their social and fanicial situation.
what a great idea, good for that uni, i think it's great that pupils that are doing well at uni/school/college should get somthing in return and an ipod nano can give two different aspects to student life, one aspect for education, using it for lectures, work, essay's and then for the leisure aspect allowing students to view video's and listen to music.
Im glad educational establishments are thinking outside the box and using different methods to get more people envolved in higher education and for an incentive to do well in education.
Its nothing more than an incentive, be it a waste of money, attracting people who will go to uni for the sake of an iPod. Nobody will use a fucking iPod Nano for Lecture notes, get real.
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the whole point of the EMA is to get students with bad attendence to come to school
The Whole Point of EMA is so families from a poorer background can afford to educate to a sixth form level, with £30 a week, you can get the school esssensials, and its considered with a household income over £30,000 you can afford it anyway. Being an incentive for attendance isnt really too big an issue, as if you dont attent anyway, your out... and everyone in sixth form wants to be there, obviously.
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system tricked by students telling lies or teachers not blatently bothered about the fact that the student was not their for their lesson
EMA Can only be claimed with 100% Attendance in all lessons and registration and whith a report of ettendance handed in at the week ending of payment.
The System cant be cheated as the EMA application is a legel document signed by an accountant; there not that stupid.
Dont you think £30 a week is a bit to much? I mean yeh a grant at the begining of the year would be sensible allowing students to buy books, paper, pens, for the start of the term, im all for giving money for students who really need it, take some parts of manchester were provity is a kin to places in the third world. However arguing the point you made my mother and father JUST earn £30,000 but its up to me to get all my books, pens, etc so why cant i be given a grant? I also think that the people who do get it dont really spend it on education, they recently did a poll in the Gaurdian (i think) and they asked over 1000 students who recieved an EMA, over half of them spent the EMA on NIGHTS OUT!, a quater (and a bit) spent it on other leisure activties and below a quater of students spent it on educational equipment! - Does'nt that piss you off?
Also when you say
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everyone in sixth form wants to be there, obviously.
you're wrong some students (especially those recieving an EMA are their because they dont want to go to work and want to do some easy course, like for example a GNVQ which i was on, now im not saying it was 'easy' in that way but because its not a 'proper' sixth former course and you dont need great grades to get on it people go on the course mess around get their EMA and get a pass in the course.
Actually if you read what i said people can cheat it, here's an example, people go in for morning registration and as such the tutor signs the EMA the student then apparently goes to their lesson, now as long as the go to registration in the morning/afternoon and sometimes go to their lessons at the end of the week they can say to the teacher, excuse miss/sir can you sign my EMA because yesterday (etc) you forgot to sign it, the teacher sign's sed document. I watched this being done countless times by students and sometimes the teacher blatently sign the form without checking the register, because to the teacher the EMA is another nussance which has just got to be filled in. Also I dont think the student is bothered that the EMA form is a a legal document as long as they get their EMA money to buy fags their fine.
The whole EMA system is fucked up and a better alternative should be put in place like encouraging students who are doing well to excel even more, or even giving any student from any background money which would be spent on education equipment, better still their would be no point in giving students an EMA if the goverment just handed students the equipment they needed such as books/pens/etc, if a students family finds it hard to pay for sed students meals give the student lunch vouchers so that they can get a free lunch. Students dont take the EMA seriously anyway and some who recieve their EMA couldn't give a fuck about education as long as the goverment is paying them. Yes their should be systems in place to give students from a less well off background the chance to do well in futher education but the EMA is not the way to do it.
Things can be tight after tax on a 30,000 wage but it has to cut off somewhere, just like the "dole" duts of somewhere.
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half of them spent the EMA on NIGHTS OUT!
So would I... but its their money Its about sustaining sixth form, not just books and pens; im not saying a night out is a necessity, but its sustinence.
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you're wrong some students (especially those recieving an EMA are their because they dont want to go to work and want to do some easy course, like for example a GNVQ which i was on, now im not saying it was 'easy' in that way but because its not a 'proper' sixth former course and you dont need great grades to get on it people go on the course mess around get their EMA and get a pass in the course.
For whatever reason; they still chose to be there; and those disruptive, bad atendees are removed from the sixth form.
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mess around get their EMA and get a pass in the course.
Isn't that what everyone does
Nah, for me not getting EMA sucks; there is probably a loophole in which I can getting it, and you have to fill in the attendance forms at the end of it all, but hey; Id rather the EMA than a shitty nano; I dont qualify for the EMA for the household income reason, we can like any other £30,000+ household, afford the school equipment, its real reason, hard for us lot to believe, but some people have trouble with affording RAM; us 30,000 plus-ers would love the money, as it can get short at times, but its not a matter of sixth form or not.
Things can be tight after tax on a 30,000 wage but it has to cut off somewhere, just like the "dole" cuts of somewhere.
Yeh but still, ok why cant everyone be given money for books/pens/etc, regardless of how much your parents earn, or even better just give students the books/pens/equipment they need at the start of the year.
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So would I... but its their money Its about sustaining sixth form, not just books and pens; im not saying a night out is a necessity, but its sustinence.
Why should my mother and father have to pay for someone else's kid's night out? My mum and dad work hard at their job then comes along shitty tax and a bit of that tax goes to some students night out!
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For whatever reason; they still chose to be there; and those disruptive, bad atendees are removed from the sixth form.
Bad attendess are not removed the school does'nt really care.
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Isn't that what everyone does
No not everyone does, their are people their who want to learn and arnt just their for the hell of it.
It just pisses me off that the goverment think, oh well if your parents earn £30,000 or more then obviously the kids can afford to buy their own school equipment, i mean i have to save up and earn my own money and if i want to buy somthing i gotta buy it with my own money, if you go to a household which earns less than £30,000 you will probably find that they have plasma screens in every room and shit like that, no wonder the kids cant afford to get school equipment just because their parents spend tax payers money (benifits) on frickin home entertainment systems!
Hmm I think Ill have to side with Applet on this issue. I think he brings up a very good point. some students might just try to go to that university grab the free ipod and then leave. Insentives are good but there has to be something else there other wise things like this might not work out.
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Its about sustaining sixth form, not just books and pens; im not saying a night out is a necessity, but its sustinence.
