iPhones and iPads at primary schools

If someone visits the Doan Thi Diem Primary School when the schoolboys and schoolgirls just finish their lessons, he would see a lot of students with mobile phones in hands.

Some of the students call their parents to inform that the school hours finish. Others urge parents to come immediately to bring them to extra classes. While waiting for parents to come, the small students take seats somewhere and play games with their mobile phones.

When asked if she can chat on mobile phone, Khanh C, a fourth grader, pointing to her Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160, said: “Of course, I can. I have Yahoo chat on my mobile phone.”

Meanwhile, the two schoolboys, who were seen looking at a Nokia N311 mobile phone with concentration, explained that they were busy watching cartoons. 

Vietnamese parents in big urban areas nowadays believe that their children need to use the best and the most advanced devices for their study. Thu Huong, a parent in Quang Ninh province, whose son is going to the Tran Phu Primary School, said the boy is using a Samsung S5830 mobile phone.

“The mobile phone is used not just to contact with parents. My son can play games and listen to music with the phones anywhere and at anytime. They need to enjoy the best things in the modern life,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thang in Giang Vo residential quarter, the owner of a pawn shop, said he gave his daughter, a fourth grader of the Cat Linh primary school, a luxury mobile phone simply because he does not want the girl to yield to her classmates.

Thang’s daughter is now using an iPhone 4, which Thang said, can show that the girl is from a well off family.

Huyen, an office worker, has just bought an iPhone 3 for the girl, a third grader, believing that parents have the responsibility of creating a good life for their children. Huyen also said that hi-tech products can help upgrade the intelligence of children.

Black webs attack schoolgirls and schoolboys

Educators have warned that there is always the other side of a coin. While hi-tech products allow students to access more information and get more dynamic, they would also bring black webs to small students.

Thanh Huong, a parent in Ba Dinh district in Hanoi, related that one day she discovered that her daughter accessed to a web where there were a lot of images of naked girls. After that day, the girl did not have the iPhone 4 any more, and the mobile phone she is using is the one which only allows to make and receive calls.

Teachers also complained that they have discovered more and more students accessing the black webs.

Mai, a teacher of a secondary school, said that a schoolgirl was asked to stay off from school for two weeks, so that her parents could talk with their child and correct her behaviors. The parents later explained that since they were busy all the day, they had leave the daughter at home with grandparents. Therefore, the girl was given an iPad so that she could kill time.

Source: Vietnamnet