It was a chilly January morning, and I was strolling down to my bus stop. As I walk I look around seeing trees, the pavement, stop signs, and I hear a snapping sound. This sound gets louder and quicker until my backpack struck the pavement I had been previously been walking on. I turn to see that my book bag containing three textbooks, five notebooks,a large three ringed binder, and a calculator had been sprawled out on the road.
That backpack lying there on the ground gave me an idea that I had read in CPA (Chandler Park Academy) times. ‘Laptops (netbooks, ipads, ibooks, etc) vs. textbooks’ was how it began. The article read on to explain the pros and cons of a typical school switching to laptops. Another item mentioned in eSchool News online is the difference in schools makes it easier or harder to switch over. The question is should schools trade out textbooks for laptops? I would have to answer that question with a yes, because of all the pros it contains.
Convenience; accessibility; and knowing how, when, where, and with whom homework is being finished are all pros that changing to laptops could provide. There is easy accessibility with a pouch that can carry the laptop at a student's side at all times. This pouch slides over the head and onto the shoulder of the carrier so it can be easily reached saving time by not digging through a years worth of paper and old assignments. A student wouldn’t have any excuse to not have homework done and submitted also online. However, for every pro there must be some cons.
Major cons to this theory are finances and other internet distractions. In this horrible economy laptops in exchange for textbooks is not a hot topic because the prices are rising says the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois. Playing games and finding other distracting media pages then what is meant to be used could be another possible problem. Parents also might not like the idea of their children having free access to the internet alone at home. Furthermore, the amount of cons varies from school to school.
Larger schools like Floydada’s in Texas have already switched over. Other schools haven't converted and the problem is the differences in the schools. Cannon Falls schools have not converted because we are practically broke unlike other school districts. The economy drop has also not helped the cause. Numbers count too like the more attendance a school has the more laptops would be needed.
With every idea there are pros and cons and with this topic the utter diversity in the schools happens to matter quite a bit. What kind of computer, how many do we need, and how much will it cost to buy everyone a laptop? These are all questions a school should ask if it is ever considering getting rid of old textbooks and replacing them with laptops. So get rid of broken overflowing backpacks and get your tech on.