Bill Baxter twirls an orange screwdriver into the spine of a bulky PC.
"This should technically be described as archeology," he says
as he ponders the electronic innards of the 386. He pries out a shard the
size and shape of a candy bar -- a piece of the machine's memory. The computer
has 5 MB RAM -- far too little to run new programs or support an Internet
browser. Baxter hopes to give the PC new life by juicing it up -- adding
more memory storage.
In the makeshift technology lab in Washington, D.C.'s Garnet-Patterson
Middle School, Baxter and eight other volunteers are busy sorting through
piles of memory chips and boxes of tiny screws, plugging in monitors, puzzling
over hard drives, and installing CD-ROM players. Most of the PCs were donated
by local businesses. Once the computers are updated and refurbished, they'll
end up in a school, library, or classroom somewhere in the city.
Terry Lee arrives with an armful of CPUs encased in bubble wrap. Unlike
most of his volunteers, Lee is not a computer technician. Instead, he's
the organizer of these weekly "upgrade parties," as they're called.
Three years ago, Lee founded the nonprofit group, A Broader Image. One of
the group's missions: to recycle donated computers and place them in local
schools badly in need of upgraded technology. Because of volunteer efforts
such as NetDay, most of the city's schools are wired for Internet connections,
but, says Lee, "the schools don't have the equipment."
Sometimes a great notion
The practice of businesses donating older computers to schools is not,
of course, a new one. But this relationship is not always perfect. Many
schools are resistant to corporate donations, unwilling to become, as they
see it, dumping grounds for antiquated equipment older than their students.
Often, donated equipment doesn't fit into a school's technology plan; teachers
and staff aren't trained how to use it; the computers are underpowered and
won't run word-processing programs or web browsers. Sometimes, the equipment
doesn't work, and no one at the school has the expertise to fix it.
Tip Kilby, founder of Computers for Classrooms, in Atlanta, discovered
resistance even in schools that were in desperate need of computers. "They
didn't like the idea," says Kilby. "They said, 'We don't want
them. We have roomfuls of stuff that's been donated.'"
Kilby realized that with some technology know-how and training, these
corporate donations could be used successfully in schools. He's not alone
in that realization. Nonprofit computer recycling groups, such as Computers
for Classrooms and A Broader Image, are stepping in to act as go-betweens
for schools and businesses. The idea is catching on: Hundreds of nonprofit
computer recycling groups are cropping up all over the country. These groups
will upgrade discarded computers with more memory, new hard drives, CD-ROM
players, or whatever else it takes to make the machines useful in schools.
Some groups work with schools to decide what types of computers would suit
their needs. Some provide training for teachers, and others offer to troubleshoot
after the computers are installed.
The groups are mostly local, grassroots efforts, although some statewide
and even nationwide groups exist. The largest is probably the Detwiler Foundation
in La Jolla, Calif. Since 1991, the foundation has distributed more than
35,000 refurbished computers to public schools. The majority of these groups,
however, are small and serve their local community or a particular population.
Some collect and refurbish computers for schools they deem needy, like Washington's
A Broader Image and SCROUNGE, a group in central Pennsylvania that gives
recycled computers to rural schools. Computers for Classrooms works with
poor districts, both urban and rural, in and around Atlanta. Others, such
as the Marin Computer Resource Center in California, give equipment to schools
who ask on a first-come, first-served basis. Another California group, KidSource
Online, provides a computer swap on the Internet, matching schools with
businesses looking to donate equipment. Most of the groups do not charge
schools for the computers, though some levy small shipping or training fees.
(For contact information, see sidebar.)
Planned obsolescence
The rapid rate of obsolescence is contributing to the glut of computers
discarded by businesses. Most companies have upgraded to Pentium machines,
leaving an estimated 33 million 286 and 386 computers and millions more
486s to clutter storerooms, hallways, and landfills. With the advent of
the Pentium II, even more machines are poised to enter the waste stream.
Two realities are prodding companies into seeing the wisdom of donating
their older computers. One is that the resale value of used computers has
plummeted. A typical 386 would bring from $10 to $20 on the open market.
Another motivation is the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which gives tax breaks
to companies that donate personal computers less than two years old to schools.
That combination is prompting more donations from companies and more
opportunities for recycling groups to get their hands on computer equipment
for schools.
So far, Lee and his volunteers have outfitted the Garnet-Patterson library
with 16 486 PCs equipped with Windows 95 and web browsers (Internet access
courtesy Bell Atlantic, which donated and installed a T1 line). When they're
done, the 300-student middle school will boast two additional labs similar
to the library set-up, as well as 10 more computers for teachers and their
classrooms. Also, 25 honor students will each be able to take home a refurbished
386.
Lee gets most of his donations from law firms, a sizeable industry in
Washington. James Burgett, the founder of the Marin Computer Resource Center,
has so many eager high-tech donors from nearby Silicon Valley that he now
accepts only 486s and Pentiums. The center has provided about 2,000 computers
to schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tip Kilby of Computers for Classrooms
relies on large and small companies in Atlanta. SCROUNGE, based at Penn
State University, gets donations from the university, its professors, alumni,
and staff.
Do the math
Despite the increase in computer recycling, many schools still aren't
sold on accepting older equipment. Some of the schools SCROUNGE's Geraldine
Russell works with won't take anything less than a Pentium II computer.
What these schools don't realize, she says, is that even 286s have their
use in the classroom, especially in elementary schools. "Better for
the students to have an old computer and learn word processing," says
Russell. "If they have no idea how a computer can be used, they are
at a disadvantage."
If you do the math, says Clive Smith, you can see it's advantageous to
get these computers, even the underpowered ones, into the hands of students.
Smith is the president of New Deal Inc., a company that developed educational
software to run on older PCs. Currently, there are about 6.1 million computers
in schools, 1.1 million of them elderly Apple IIs. If schools could get
just 5 million of the discarded computers available, Smith says, they'd
nearly double the number of computers available to students. And that, he
says, "allows students earlier access and much more time on computers."
Smith compares used computers to used cars -- they'll still take you
where you want to go, even if they don't have all the same features. If
schools want to run multimedia programs with sound and graphics, they need
powerful computers. "But if that's not what you're doing, that's not
what you need," he says.
Concern over computer equity in the schools in large part fuels the computer
recycling movement. SCROUNGE, says Russell, works with rural schools that
previously had no or very little computer equipment. And donating even one
or two computers to such schools can make a big difference. "If you
can place one laptop in a classroom so all students have access to it,"
she says, "you've done a lot for that classroom."
Kathleen Vail is an associate editor of Electronic School and The American School
Board Journal. |
