Life without laptops: a Harriton student’s worst nightmare? That is, a nightmare we’ve all been facing for the past week and a half, but a short-lived dream ending with a return of technology on the 21st. Obviously, the lack of computer access poses many problems to normal student life. Classrooms are designed to accommodate technologically-minded groups, and teachers write their lesson plans for students with a computer at hand. Additionally, some pupils have no access to printers or even a word-processing system without the One-to-One program, and so they will fall behind in classes that require neatness and/or typed homework. The loss of the MacBook’s organizational programs is also a huge blow to students who used programs like iCal to keep track of their schedule, or Stickies for recording assignments. When the laptops are returned, we’ll all have to rearrange the way we’ve gone through our first two weeks of school, somehow fitting together our handwritten notes from the beginning days to fit with typed ones in the months to come. Will the changes really be easy to adjust to? Hopefully, but it’s unlikely that the switch will be a smooth one.
We all know why the computers haven’t been returned: one of the many lawsuits plaguing our administrative offices as of late has resulted in court-mandated training for all students within the building, and withholding of our laptops until its completion. Additional rewrites of the laptop policies are also giving us countless forms to sign, brought on by this same lawsuit. These same forms are then delivered, pretty much verbatim, to us by members of the administration, changing class schedules and giving no new information. How often can we be expected to put our names on a piece of paper stating that we understand that, “If I commit any violation of the Policy, my access privileges may be revoked, school disciplinary action may be taken, and/or appropriate legal action may be pursued,” as we do in the Student User Agreement, and, similarly in the Agreement for Laptop Use, that the “STUDENT shall not use or allow the Laptop to be used…” followed by a list of violations fifteen long? Reading through this heavy legalspeak many times over is bad enough, but still worse is listening to it. The monotonous presentations are taking class time away and boring us all to sleep, and staff members aren’t pleased with them, either. All teachers were made to sit through the same PowerPoints as the student body at least once, even those such as instructional aides who aren’t given laptops. Advisory periods have been devoted to Internet safety videos, which hardly seem relevant to a modern audience who rarely, if ever, use chat rooms and certainly would not publish their life story in such places.
The dramatic movies warn against the dangers of meeting up with strangers met online, obvious choices to anyone with half a brain. Couldn’t they just hand us a pamphlet and let us use a RAM period? This sounds like a simple solution, but for one small problem: without laptops, we can’t have RAM periods. When are students expected to get time to meet with their teachers outside of class? Summer math packet quizzes are undoubtedly drawing near, but what happens to those students who need to review concepts with their teachers? Those without home access certainly can’t be expected to email for help, and so it seems we’d all be stuck in a time of need. Although, it seems that work levels have been slightly reduced lately due to the technological void. Classroom time moves slower when handwritten notes are a must, and teachers aren’t able to utilize Turnitin.com or WebAssign to electronically assign and check homework. And even with the limited work we’re able to turn in, students aren’t able to view their grades as of yet on Powerschool without their school number and password for this year. Students may be happy with a lighter workload, but will it be too tough to adjust back to the normal levels when the computers are returned? The entire school’s dynamic has shifted through the initial two weeks of this 2010 – 2011 school year, creating problems for everyone from freshman to the anxious-to-leave seniors.
But while school time is spent in a state of confusion due to the lack of laptops, I personally don’t mind the constant distractions. Without a laptop, it’s easier to focus on what really needs to be done, rather than the infinite possibilities that accompany Internet access. Though it’s hard to deal with not having a steady stream of information under my fingertips at any given time, procrastination seems to have, ironically, fallen to the wayside. Study halls are forced work time, leaving more time after school for extracurriculars and, best of all, an earlier bedtime. Most students, however, would disagree with me. It seems as though nothing but complaints comes out of this, and when faced with the endless paperwork and assemblies I can’t help but agree. But perhaps students should take another look at the current situation. Maybe the general feeling should shift against the laptops, in favor of fewer hours spent procrastinating and more knowledge absorbed. At the current time, however, it seems that students will celebrate the return of their long-gone machines. Classes will be more technologically focused; paper notes will fall out of use. These early days without constant laptop access will fade from memory, and the regular Harriton dynamic will return within days of the computers.