[TeMPOraL]

This is called "learning experience". How children are supposed to not think of computers as magic boxes if they're prohibited from doing anything interesting on it (and that very much includes breaking them and fixing by themselves)? Restoring the machines back to original state should be a trivial task for whoever is responsible for the computer room.

[danneu]

    > How children are supposed to not think of
    > computers as magic boxes if they're prohibited
    > from doing anything interesting on it (and that
    > very much includes breaking them and fixing by 
    > themselves)?

The first thing every kid did in the computer lab was highlight all the icons on the desktop and try to delete them. We already knew how to use computers because we had one at home to mess with. The whole goal of the computer lab was to figure out how to create a bomb for the next user.

Now pretend we aren't in the heights or mid/upper burbs anymore. There is no IT/networking staff. It's just Mr. Perkins, the English teacher that volunteered to look after the computer room. And there are kids without computers in their household. Too bad, all the computers are hosed because lol.