Computers in the classroom

Would you think that is a good thing? Yesterday my daughter checked out a school that boasts about giving every single student her own laptop. My daughter noted that the laptops are, indeed, put to use during class. While some may actually take down notes on them, which is supposedly what they are intended for in noncomputer classes, others use it to surf the web, go on Facebook, check email, or send texts (though, admittedly they could do that anyway with just a phone). What was heralded as a tool for learning easily slips into a distraction for learning. I know that even college students would fall into distractions when they would bring laptops into class. The less mature high school students could hardly be expected to resist temptation, particularly in a school that takes a rather light approach to discipline.

You know that even when going to the moon, the scientists were still using the slide rule to make their calculations. It seems to me that the generation of long ago were not at all educationally disadvantaged by their lack of smart boards, advanced calculators, and access to the internet.