> There's no way that a school district would have time and resources to help every kid work through fixing the issues on their computer after they've bollixed something up.
In other words, "there's no way a school district would have time and resources to do their job of facilitating knowledge acquisition". I say yes, let kids break their computers. Make them feel that they do whatever they want with those machines and the worst thing that will happen if they break something will be an mildly unhappy IT guy who'll fix the problem anyway. Let kids play in a sandbox.
I remember reading somewhere that an effective environment for learning is the one in which you can do whatever you want without serious consequences. This claim matches experience.
> And they don't want the kids using a broken computer as an excuse for not being able to do their homework.
The solution is very simple - don't accept that excuse. Make it clear that if the computer stops working, they're to bring it to a school IT person, and that it's in their best interest to be able to do their homework.
In other words, "there's no way a school district would have time and resources to do their job of facilitating knowledge acquisition". I say yes, let kids break their computers. Make them feel that they do whatever they want with those machines and the worst thing that will happen if they break something will be an mildly unhappy IT guy who'll fix the problem anyway. Let kids play in a sandbox.
I remember reading somewhere that an effective environment for learning is the one in which you can do whatever you want without serious consequences. This claim matches experience.
> And they don't want the kids using a broken computer as an excuse for not being able to do their homework.
The solution is very simple - don't accept that excuse. Make it clear that if the computer stops working, they're to bring it to a school IT person, and that it's in their best interest to be able to do their homework.