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In the Swedish community I live in they give all children a MacBook, and they've been doing this for many years.

Given that this is Sweden almost everyone already has internet access, and if you don't you can still go to the public library and get it (and borrow a computer if you want).




Would public libraries still be open? States are shutting down businesses every week, and SF has a "shelter in place" policy. For some students, libraries and other sources of public wifi are not available at the present moment.


We are dealing with this in south Dallas right now. Many of the kids don't have access to computers or internet at home and the libraries and other places with hotspots (coffee shops, mcdonalds, etc) that kids normally go to to for internet are all closed.

The districts are planning on giving kids Chromebooks for classes but they are also figuring out how to give them personal hotspots or enable LTE on the Chromebooks. Overall, it seems most of Juniors and Seniors that couldn't afford internet before and were close to dropping out to help pay their family's bills just got their parent's approval to start working instead of going to school.

It will be very interesting (and sad) to see how this affects graduation rates and preparedness for classes come fall.




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