[edited on January 26, 2010 @ 12.46pm]
Apparently my friend is required to bring the tablet PC to class everyday to take notes and do research. So what if it is supposed to last for 4 years. What happened to the traditional pen and notebook? Haha, the teacher is soon going to regret it because half the time, students will be surfing Facebook.
[edited]
I was curious when a childhood friend tweeted about getting a tablet PC. Knowing that she is in secondary school, I was wondering why she even needed one. She said her school wanted their students to use it for research and learning purposes. I was appalled when she said that it was bought and not even loaned by the school.
My question is why would secondary school students need a laptop or even a tablet PC for that matter? I understand that technology is advancing and has become a part of our lives. No longer are the days of flipping through books and encyclopedias for information for a school project. These days, students just turn to the internet. However, to ask students to buy a tablet PC for school use is just too much. I expected the school to be loaning these technology gadgets if they thought that their students needed it for learning purposes.
Isn’t your home desktop or the desktops in the school computer lab good enough for research? How much research does a secondary school student even do to warrant for the use of a laptop? I’m a college student who owns a laptop. Even I seldom bring out my laptop for research and learning purposes.
How about students whose families can’t afford laptops for their children? Does that mean these children are going to be at the losing end when it comes to their education?
Technology and Singapore’s education system wows me sometimes.
I agree, I think that demanding students have the latest technology is wrong, especially when it disadvantages the already disadvantaged. Shouldn’t schools be encouraging each and every student to succeed not implementing policy that leaves specific groups behind!?
elisia says: Precisely. I think that people rely on technology too much to even think for a moment whether it’s really needed or not. It is not wrong for the school to want to move towards a future where education is facilitated and made better with the use of technology. However, to make it compulsory for students to get their own laptop, that’s too much. And these students are only 15. They are not even learning programming or design that requires them to use a computer most of the time.