Difference between revisions of "Classrooms of the Past"

Revision as of 12:29, 5 December 2007

Haverford High School currently has a technology policy which prohibits external electronic devices from connecting to their network and being used during class. This policy is hypocritical, because they have accepted over $200 million as part of a "Classrooms of the Future" program to purchase technology for classrooms. However, they prohibit students from using technology that they brought to school. This sends a powerful message of hypocracy.

Recently, Ms. Reilly, my English 11 teacher assigned the class to read a passage from a poem. She told students to look up words that they did not know. When I came across a word I did not know, I looked it up on my Nokia N800 internet tablet. The N800 is like a small laptop which fits in your pocket. Ms. Reilly asked me to put it away. She did not care that I was using it for school purposes and following her directions. When I asked her for a old-fashioned "dead tree" dictionary, I was told that there was none, and i was to look the word up at home. Ms. Reilly is a recipient of a "Classrooms of the Future" grant.

Haverford's policy also restricts students from using electronic devices as personal organizers. Some students have expressed to me that they wish to carry PDAs or use their cell phones to keep a calender. However, under under current school rules, students are forbidden to organize their lives on electronic devices during school.

While I understand the school's worry