On technology and hype

A zoo in the midwest, acting on an April fool's gag, gave its orangutans ipads. First they introduced the ipads from outside the compound, then passed the devices inside. The technology was an immediate success with the youngsters, who evidently love the interactive books. Keepers haven't left the ipads in the cages for extended periods out of fear someone will get frustrated and rip the gadgets to shreds (would that be therapeutic to watch?) but plan to do so once they come up with an orangutan-proof case (which I want, once it's out).

On the other hand, after a month of trying, I have not been able to communicate even a basic lesson to my mattayom kids. Maybe, if I'm especially patient and prime them with the answer in two or three explicit and detailed examples, 1 of the 60 kids will get something out of it, which is to say, one of them might stop saying, "ipad, ipad, ipad!" and recognize that there's an image on the screen and it's of a recognizable place (I've been working on "where are you going?" using photos taken around town--I'm gong to Swensen's, Pizza Company, Carrefour &c, but the kids almost never identify the picture, even after I say, "I'm going to... Swensen's!" They parrot back whatever I say, but without the lightbulbs of recognizing that place in the picture).

On the one hand, there's huge potential for jokes, and if the students could understand such mockery, I would love to throw it at them. Yes, I have sunk to the level of wishing I could mock students, and no, I feel no compunctions about it whatsoever. I think what tipped it was the class that spent the last five minutes of class saying, "fuck you teacher, thank you thank you." Or maybe the ones who followed me down the breezeway saying, "Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!" which is even funnier than "Harry Potty!" There comes a point when being twelve and stupid is not an excuse: you KNOW better, even if your hormones are raging.
But such jokes are the easy way out and sidestep the actual issue.

How sad is it that there is so much hype around the ipad--technology and the affluence surrounding it--that these kids can be overwhelmed to the point of underperforming orangutans?