Technology in The Classroom: Distraction or Useful?

Currently, technology has been on the rise, and many places are integrating electronics into their everyday lives for ease of access and efficiency. Electronics like laptops and tablets help college students with their studies. College students use laptops and tablets in their class for a better efficiency during class. East Asian countries are getting their students iPads and “every student in the school will have one” (Wang), by 2013, and only “1 in 10 schools allow their students laptops” (Wang). Asian schools are “ahead in the game” (Wang), compared to the United States. All high schools in the United States should allow the use of laptops and tablets in their classes because of their portability, applications, and communication.

Tablets and laptops are quite portable and easy to carry. Instead of a student carrying a large amount of books, writing utensils, and notebooks, one could carry a laptop or tablet and make “fat school bars full of heavy books, pens and notepads a thing of the past” (Wang). Instead of stuffing a book bag full of books, one can slip a laptop or tablet “into a bag and store thousands of textbooks” (Wang). It is true that the more electronics one carry, there are more wires in the bag, but my point is that cables usually weigh less than textbooks, and that there is still a limit on how many wires one needs. Many high schools do not allow tablets and laptops in class, and many people carry backpacks. Heavy backpacks can “lead to both back pain and poor posture” (Longley). Since many parents and teachers complain about their children’s postures, tablets and laptops should replace the weight of books and potentially help the children’s backs. Tablets and laptops themselves are expensive, but if one think...

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...s a “rapidly developing market… and are just beginning”(Cline).

With the United States’ low amount of high schools allowing laptops and tablets in school, the high schools should allow laptops and tablets to be used to benefit students, because the “trend of integrating technology into education will definitely increase” (Wang). I am a high school student, and in the classes that I am allowed my laptop and tablet, I feel like it has helped me more than not having one. In the future, the high schools of the United States should not lag behind Asian countries with education, but surpass them.

Works Cited

Fang, Berlin. "From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom."Educause. Educause

Quarterly, Winter 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. .