[dfaigonio]

I've long held that, if we want computers in the classroom at all, we should steer well clear of any modern gee-whiz gadgets. A modern Commodore 64 clone would teach vastly more about computers than an iPad and would cost maybe $50 total. Modern computers are designed so people don't have to understand them, which is exactly backwards for a student.

[cmrdporcupine]

But it depends on the goal. Most people's interactions with computers is going to be as a user, even a power user -- but not as a developer. Due to classroom activities, my 10 year old is quite adept at Google Docs, Slides, etc. and various authoring tools they use in class. She puts together presentations and reports with them, and collaborates with her peers using them.

I grew up in the Apple II/Ti-994a in the classroom era. Only a small fraction of students took the challenge of those machines on such that they learned software engineering skills later. We had classes teacher BASIC and Logo, but almost none of my peers went on to do anything with it, and I'm sure retention generally was very poor.

I'd love for people to learn like you say, but I don't think it would work that way.

[lr4444lr]

That's great they're learning about business applications, which is a valid part of the curriculum. But they're not about computers, as per the OP's point.