Wow, it's almost enough to make us want to go back to school! Remember a couple of weeks ago when we told you about how the University of Wisconsin-Stout is going to require all incoming freshmen to own Apple laptops in the fall of 2002? Sounds like a great way to scam a free iBook from the parents, doesn't it? "But Mom, it's a school requirement!" We can just see the hordes of young Mac fanatics scrambling for admission now...

But don't assume that UW-Stout's the best school where you can score a free iBook. We were poking around MacNN recently and came across a link to an Associated Press story about Bowling Green State University in Ohio, who is reportedly giving away 150 iBooks to selected freshmen this upcoming semester. That's right-- giving away. As in, you don't even have to shmooze your parents, since the University's picking up the tab. Okay, so it's not really a gift, since the lucky iBook recipients are expected to return the iBooks when they graduate in three years, but at least there's an option to buy the things "at a reduced rate."

There's another catch, too; while every freshman at UW-Stout has to own a laptop, only 150 freshmen at Bowling Green will be getting the free iBooks. What puzzles us slightly are the criteria for choosing the lucky students: the iBooks are being given to "freshmen who have not decided on a major or whose standardized test scores were below average." The idea, we think, is to give disadvantaged students a leg up, or something; the project manager for the initiative is hoping that the iBook distribution plan will "help grades" and "boost retention." We have to wonder if he's really thought this through, though, since his strategy is based on the principle that "the only thing you can do is keep throwing technology at these students and hope it sticks." Huh.

Well, if the plan is to lob technology at uninterested students, we figure using flashy-looking and inviting iBooks is a good idea, but the whole premise sounds a little shaky to us. Heck, we wouldn't mind intentionally throwing a few standardized tests or holding off on declaring a major if it meant we'd get a couple of free iBooks for three years. Once this program is firmly in place, it'll be interesting to see whether the school's scores go up or down over the next couple of years. In any case, we bet the Mac-using population will increase-- and hey, what else matters?