Attention Parents: Skip the Times' Back-to-School Advice

David Card | August 17, 2006, 01:15 PM

Today, in an article on back-to-school technology -- that runs in the "Basics" section, mind you -- the NY Times offers advice on the following products for high school students:

- a Hewlett-Packard graphing calculator
- a $500 digital camera with WiFi
- a $350 HP multi-function photo printer (scanner, fax, etc.)

No cellphones, laptops, MP3 players, game machines, midrange digi cameras, etc. You know, the stuff high school kids might actually want and use.

Oh, and the calculator -- the calculator!?!? -- will "appeal to image-conscious teenagers with its sleek silver-and-gray design."

Yes, the Times is still one of the greatest newspapers in the world. I'm just reporting here.

UPDATED: Yikes. My apologies. Michael tells me scientific calculators are indeed required these days. Heck, I thought HS seniors would be doing their graphing calculations on their cellphones by now. I stand behind my implied statement that they're not cool. ;->