No Laptop Left Behind

This reading really opened my eyes to the role that technology plays in education. I often think about the new technologies that have come into play in schools. I was friends with some girls who were required to get iPad in high school at the private school they attended. I had always thought this was unnecessary. To some aspect, I feel that requiring certain technologies in the classroom is not always the answer. When the girls at the school were required to get iPads, they were required to do work and learn on iPad. This narrows the scope of study. It creates an environment where the student is told what type of studying is best. I believe that every person studies differently and these differences should be explored and embraced. For example, when I study for a test, I cannot create a study guide on a computer. If I want to retain information, I must write the information down. Many studies show that writing something down by hand increases a person's ability to memorize it significantly.

I also often think about what school must have been like before the internet and Microsoft word. Everything had to be hand written and if a person wanted information, they needed to search through a book. When this was the case, people had an entire extra set of skills that learning in this way required. Now that these steps are no longer necessary, many people have lost those skill sets. To me, this doesn't matter because the skill sets that used to be a necessary are becoming obsolete. However, the people that have access to technology have an unfair advantage over people who do not have access as it pertains to information. The girls at the school who were required to have an iPad had an advantage over me because I didn't have an iPad. They may have not been able to memorize information as well, but they didn't need to because it was all at their fingertips. Even though I do not believe that technology should be pushed upon students, I do believe that every student should have equal access to it. This scenario is almost an impossibility. There will always be people with less access than others, but efforts must be made to secure access to information for everyone. If everyone had access to information, that global awareness would lead to an increase in problem solving and give everyone the opportunity to do so in their own way.