Should laptops replace textbooks?

no way...

how much are laptops? how much electricity would they need to run all those laptops, it's bad for your eyes, and there are too many distractions on a computer...

The idea of replacing textbooks with laptops may seem appealing at first but upon a further review it does not entirely make sense. As a recent college graduate, I know how ridiculously expensive textbooks can be especially when publishers insist on coming out with updated versions every two years. I also know what it is like to conduct research online and that is not as easy as it sounds either. In order for laptops to replace computers, students would spend a lot of time trying to find the information they need in order to learn about any given subject and this would take time away from actually reading about it. Also, I think that a student's handwriting capability would be at great risk if laptops were used because teachers might be too tempted to allow students to type all of their homework assignments and therefore not requiring students to handwrite anything. I know these examples may seem extreme but let's think about the ramifications these decisions may have on the futures of our students. Consider the pros as well as the cons.

I am a student at Davies County High School in Kentucky. The idea of laptops in the classroom sounds good, but once you try it, you encounter quite a few problems.

Students cannot handle having the laptops and often break them or put software on the computer that results in the computer no longer functioning as it should. This results in the Help Desk at my school having to either send the computer off to get it fixed or fixing the computer every time they bring it in.

When the computers are sent off, the technicians in Help Desk have to fill out a work order, wait for the box to come in, send the laptop off, wait a couple of weeks to a month, then return the laptop to the student after it returns. The whole time the computer is away from the school, the student or the student's parent often ask over and over when the computer will be back and expect us to have a spare laptop ready for them.

There are around 2,000 students at my school. We can not have that many spares ready should many people have computer problems at the same time. With our two computer technicians, if we had spares for everyone, that's all they would be doing all day, just changing who the administrator on the spare is for the next person.

If a student does not have a laptop, either by opting out or it being sent off, teachers also expect us to have a laptop ready for them to use. For the student that opted out, they should not have opted out in the first place if they expect to have a computer at any point during their time in high school.

The idea of laptops in high schools and lower should have never been attempted. It causes many more problems than the tried and true method of teaching with books.

The Eastern Townships (public) School Board has deployed laptops to all students from grade 3 to the end of high school, in a program running since 2003. All schools are fully wireless. Students take laptops home and generally treat them as their own. Pedagogy has adjusted to this change using online resources and all the conventional sources of information. Some publishers have been persuaded to supply texts and workbooks on CD but most still believe they are in the printing business. Teachers use available textbooks as the resources they always have been, compendiums and summaries of information that can serve as a starting point for more comprehensive research online. Now students are not limited to a single source for understanding a subject.

Awsome!!!!!!!!!!
I think this is so totoally COOOOOOOOOL!!!!
I want my school to do that.
I have scoliosis and that would help

it would save evry 1 money on paper in the long run.

KIDS SHOULD HAVE LAPTOPS IN SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that it is a good idea, because us kids are coming home with so much homework in our bookbags that is causes back problems! I think that it would be a good idea now instead of in the future to do this. This goes for everybody that is a parent would you rather spend a buch of money of school books and stuff that you don't need or more money on your childs back! I would on a laptop rather then anything else. Us kids are your future so I think that ya'll need to make the best of your lifes NOW!!!

we should have laptops in schools because it will make our lives easier

yes in fact i am doing a persuasive essay on it right now