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AIBU?

to think that it is extremely eye-rolly indeed to award top prize to a Year 4 school project which was done on a Mac Book Pro?

119 replies

effedorf · 22/04/2013 22:01

Especially given that I am not talking about wealthy independent sector, but London state primary in very mixed area?

Hmm

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numbum · 22/04/2013 22:02

Depends on what the project was and why the child won

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NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 22/04/2013 22:03

What numbum said.

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Prawntoast · 22/04/2013 22:06

Not sure, does it matter if it was a Mac Book Pro rather than a Windows PC? These days kids are a hell of a lot more computer literate than I ever was at that age. My DD regularly did project work on a laptop from Yr 4, powerpoint presentations etc.

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WilsonFrickett · 22/04/2013 22:06

Eh? As opposed to giving a prize for a project which was done on a common or garden PC like?

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Trill · 22/04/2013 22:07

YABU to think that the brand of computer upon which a project was done is relevant.

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HorryIsUpduffed · 22/04/2013 22:10

You mean, as opposed to hand-drawn and -written?

I'd be a bit Hmm if a prize were given for production values over content, particularly if it had involved a lot of parental input the resources were not available to the majority of pupils.

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EduCated · 22/04/2013 22:11

Depends entirely what the project was. If it was just word processed makes not a blind bit of difference what operating system or computer was used.

If it was solely for the use of fancy software only available on Macs, rather than the substance of the project, then YmightNBU.

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SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker · 22/04/2013 22:13

so my kids who don't have a pc shouldn't be able to compete for a prize? Seriously, are you going to be the one telling a kid that?

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effedorf · 22/04/2013 22:14

It was something that could not be done on an ordinary pc.

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effedorf · 22/04/2013 22:14

Obviously!

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effedorf · 22/04/2013 22:15

Why do you have to be so fucking literal all the time Trills?

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numbum · 22/04/2013 22:17

Who was that aimed at selfconfessed? Confused

All our school projects are a 'do as you please' type thing. My DS is fully capable of using a computer to do his projects but usually chooses to do them with pencil and paper

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DebsMorgan · 22/04/2013 22:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WilsonFrickett · 22/04/2013 22:17

I'm still not getting your point, sorry. Software is only as good as the person using it, so presumably the child evidenced some specific skill or talent? Obviously if their parent knocked something up in their lunch hour it shouldn't have won, but that has nothing to do with their operating system!

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Delayingtactic · 22/04/2013 22:17

But what should they have done? If the parents were mac only should they fork out for a pc just for the odd assignment? At one stage we only had Macs in the house so if DS needed to do a project it would have been a mac.

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numbum · 22/04/2013 22:17

Not 'obviously' at all

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ArbitraryUsername · 22/04/2013 22:19

There is almost nothing you could do on a MacBook Pro that you couldn't do on a PC... The only thing you couldn't do on the PC is use mac only software, but there would be something equivalent you could use instead.

Maybe the prize was awarded for content, not form anyway.

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CloudsAndTrees · 22/04/2013 22:20

You are right, prizes and recognition should only ever go to the poorest children with the hardest lives because clearly, a child whose parents own a mac book can't possibly have done anything worthy of winning a prize. Hmm

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RubyGates · 22/04/2013 22:20

Gosh, does that mean that we should not allow DS2 access to any of the computers in the house then, on the grounds that none of them are "ordinary PCs"?

YABVU

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CajaDeLaMemoria · 22/04/2013 22:20

What software?

There's very little you can do on a mac that you can't do on a PC, and there's plenty of alternatives to mac only software.

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effedorf · 22/04/2013 22:21

Ok, to be clearer, it was done on a home computer with sophisticated software that comes as standard on a new Mac, but definitely not on any old bog standard pc that you might be able to access in your public library.

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DebsMorgan · 22/04/2013 22:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RubyGates · 22/04/2013 22:22

So?

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Prawntoast · 22/04/2013 22:22

Maybe there should be two categories of prizes, one for the arty farty types who are using Macs and have learnt to sit for hours in Starbucks with a Babyccino (spelling?) from the age of two whilst finishing their homework and one for the Windows brigade whose entries will be late as a result of their operating system crashing several times an hour before they had a chance to save their masterpieces.

Seriously though, it does depend on the project - you may be able to be more creative on Mac (not sure though, I've got one and I'm rubbish at that stuff so it doesn't help me!) than a Windows PC.
I can't imagine that a school would set something that had to be completed on a computer, as self said that's hardly fair on kids who don't have access to one.

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ArbitraryUsername · 22/04/2013 22:22

Macs don't come with anything all that fancy as standard.

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