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?

[effedorf]

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

Presumably it wasn't a competition about who owns the best software though, so what was it?

Do you think the child with the mac should have automatically been discounted because of the computer access his parents have chosen to provide him with?

You can do plenty of graphic design, video editing etc on a PC.

Maybe there should be a prize for the children whose parents don't really give a shit and don't put in the hours pimping up their projects for them? That would be refreshing.

Honestly, being bitter because someone else's kid won a prize instead f your PFB is not healthy.

I'm assuming that your child didn't win?

What makes you think I am bitter?

Or maybe there should be a prize for the child whose parents can display the most bitterness and jealousy on an Internet forum?

So it wasn't that it was done on a Mac then but that a parent did the project, that's different but makes no odds regarding the type of computer, unless you think we Mac owners are more likely to do their kids homework, I'm not one of them!

oh come on now OP this is part of parenting - suck it up

some kids have access to better tools than others, some kids parents do their projects for them, some kids have parents who don't give a fart - if it's going to wind you up every time you will make yourself ill!

It's a big if - if the prize was awarded for form over content. It isn't inconceivable that the prettiest project was also the best researched.

Erm... This thread seems ample evidence of bitterness, really.

oh yes and some children will produce work that is better than your childs

It comes across as bitter because your view is too distorted to appear believable.

Macs don't make life easier. I've got two of them, and a desktop. Neither mac came with the ability to do work for me, or win prizes on its own. It's an operating system, nothing else.

None of the software pre installed on a mac is anything special, there are plenty of windows alternatives.

So how is it not fair that they won? Because your child didn't have the same idea? Because you didn't have the same software?

I am not bothered about my child winning, trust me. I am not prepared to put in the hours! These are 9 year old kids given a 6 week project. There's very few of those who will do it without parental input. So the winner, invariably, is the one with the most parental input/resources. It just sucks for the children whose parents don't give a shit.

I just don't understand why you think a pro would have made a big difference. You can produce almost, if not exact, replicas on both.

my pc has got some bloody good software on it.

but dd would still have to put in a lot of work to learn how to use it, and then actually to use it to its best advantage.

but that's technology.

I bet you could have done whatever it was in word or PowerPoint.

We only have macs in this house. Doesn't stop DS1 producing crappy homework (that neither looks good nor wins prizes).

So it should be compulsory for all parents not to give a shit?

I never had help with a 6 week project. Any kid that did had their project thrown away in front of the rest of the class. The teacher matched language, writing, lay out etc.

It's not hard to tell when a child's done the work!

Would your child have done better if you'd helped?

I don't think this is mac issue. It's either an issue with the school, about the homework they set or an issue with parents, who cheat and help their children and make it unfair.

it's not tk dk with parents giving a shit.
I wouldn't help dd with her homework beyond explaining how the programmes work. it's not my homework.

By the way, my effedorf username relates to something else entirely that happened a few years ago.

Ah yes they should give prizes for parents who don't give a shit