Does your school allow laptops? (high school and middle school students)

[gymophett]

I really wish I could bring a netbook to type my notes in class but our school won't allow it because they are a distraction, and I do somewhat agree. What about your school?

[magmon]

We can bring our computers to school, but we can't use the schools wifi.

[cprofitt]

(warning: I am a systems administrator for a K-12 school district) My district currently has no policy on this that I am aware of, but there may be building level policies. I know that at the district level we have discussed the possibility of 'non-district' laptops being allowed. It is something I support if the necessary 'preparation' is taken to protect internal district resources. I will be going to discuss how two area colleges handle student/faculty private computers on the network in October. My district has a 'public' wi-fi vlan and I have over 200 devices attach to it daily. Primarily these have been iPods and iPhones.

[#11u-max]

i bring my ubuntu laptop to school, my algebra teacher lets me use speedcrunch since we are allowed to use calculators and i use it in social studies. it definitely helps when we are doing projects and need a way to present a slideshow/OO.o presentation!

[modmadmike]

I can since its in my I.E.P and so i bring my Toshiba U305-S5077 or my Asus EeePC 901, both of which run Ubuntu 9.04 (while my desktop/server runs 9.10 Alpha). I use Speed crunch, some weird Graphing calculator that i forgot the name of, OO.o, AND SINCE I HAVE AN EVDO MODEM: firefox (My school's wifi is WEP encrypted and uses Novel Client not that i cant get in muhahahaha), I also use xmms or another player sometimes when I need to use music to block out the rest of the class because of the sound hurting my ears.

[stwschool]

Our kids bring in all sorts of gadgets. I disagree with letting them bring mobiles and ipods, but see the value of laptops. Our management are a little lax on this though.

[ninjapirate89]

I'm not in middle or high school anymore, but when I was we were allowed to use them as long as we were using them for something pertaining to the class. We weren't allowed to use the wifi though. :(

[Jimleko211]

My school district has a strict no electronics policy, they only reluctantly allow cell phones and calculators. I wish it was different :(

[rednano12]

My school district has a strict no electronics policy, they only reluctantly allow cell phones and calculators. I wish it was different :(

Same here, and even then, they strictly monitor the calculators.

Fortunately, there are an abundance of resources. And most of my teachers don't believe that the computer has improved education. They see it as a crutch that we rely on too much. And I suppose I understand them. I see their point of view. Do I wish things were different? Yes. Would it help me learn and get a good job? Probably not.

[chessnerd]

My old high school had no policy on laptops, it was up the the individual teachers to decide. I never used a laptop to take notes in high school, but a couple of times, when I had a project that was on my laptop and I didn't want to transfer it to the school computers (which were Macs using AppleWorks) I would bring it to class and my teachers didn't seem to care.

[RabbitWho]

Kids should really learn how to write with their hands.. I don't know why.. but they should.

I used to throw out the notes I wrote in class and buy books before government exams, because the teachers never organised what they put in the board properly and it would be even worse by the time it went into my copy.

A laptop would have been cool.. copy and paste relevant things together.. save loads of money.. but then what happens to the people who can't afford laptops? and are really slow because they have to hand write everything and the teacher won't wait?

[kk0sse54]

My school district has a strict no electronics policy, they only reluctantly allow cell phones and calculators.

Same here, except no cell phones at all. Welcome to Florida.

[natedawg]

Currently all the middle school and high school kids in my district are given Apple Powerbooks for duration of their time in school. They use their laptops all the time for homework and in class projects. I think all classrooms have wifi. This is all possible because we received some special grant to buy the new computers. Its cool because we got lucky with the grant. My district is really low on money for a time we had to shut off the heat to save money.

[earthpigg]

Kids should really learn how to write with their hands.. I don't know why.. but they should.


/offtopic

i am 26, and cannot write cursive. i can barely read it.

this has not hindered me in any way.

if it is important and long, i type it.
if it is important and short, like paperwork for a bureaucracy of some sort, then it usually takes me forever.

my hand cramps up after writing about one paragraph caveman style - by no means am i a skinny little twig, i just never work those muscles. nor do i see a need to.

my sustained wpm is 70.

i type everything in internet-punctuation, which you are reading now. no caps, and purely a function over fashion affair. lots of one sentence paragraphs.

if need be for the specific project i am writing, i go back and block it together in caveman paragraphs. some paragraphs spaced by one carriage, some by two.

[cprofitt]

I would not 'hack' their wep...

[Vakman]

Our school has no problem with laptops. The Wifi, you can use it if the teacher has told you the password because he/she likes you I guess. So you are allowed to use the Wifi if you know the password or feel like hacking WEP I suppose :P
Wifi is not everywhere in the school though. This is in Ontario, Canada by the way.

[dragos240]

I can :)

[kk0sse54]

In all honesty, for my particular school and classes, it's absolutely ridiculous to even bother with a laptop. I can't think of a single good reason as to why a student would need a laptop in school except for one specific case where a student pretty much kissed the *** of collegeboard in order to take part of his AP exams on a laptop due to a number of different reasons.

[Warpnow]

Same here, except no cell phones at all. Welcome to Florida.

Most of the parents where I grew up would probably have taken their kids out of school or attempted to recall some sort of elected official if this was made the policy.

Most parents I know told their kids they were grounded if they did not have their cell phones on them at all times so they could contact them. They considered it an issue of safety.

[Ms_Angel_D]

My Son attends insight school, it's an online high school. The school provided him with a laptop and printer, though he actually doesn't need them as he already had his own computer and access to the family printer.

Online school isn't for everyone, but I can see where a good portion of students would excel at this type of experience.

[kk0sse54]

Most of the parents where I grew up would probably have taken their kids out of school or attempted to recall some sort of elected official if this was made the policy.

Most parents I know told their kids they were grounded if they did not have their cell phones on them at all times so they could contact them. They considered it an issue of safety.

It's quite convoluted. The official policy of the district is that a student must have his or her cell phone turned off and away out of sight in their backpack. You are not allowed to use them on school property. Furthermore cell phones with cameras are forbidden. In reality, at least in my school, if a teacher simply sees your cell phone they confiscate it, no questions asked.

[MikeTheC]

My Son attends insight school, it's an online high school. The school provided him with a laptop and printer, though he actually doesn't need them as he already had his own computer and access to the family printer.

Online school isn't for everyone, but I can see where a good portion of students would excel at this type of experience.

Good for you and him. How's he doing? And isn't it nice having your son under your influence and not that of teachers in a school district somewhere?

[Ms_Angel_D]

Good for you and him. How's he doing? And isn't it nice having your son under your influence and not that of teachers in a school district somewhere?

Well school started last week and it's been a great experience so far. I absolutely love being so involved in his educational experience, And he love's going to class in his P.J.'s....lol.

He had his first live session today and found it to be very fun, in fact I've never seen him so interested in actual school work. He really likes being able to work at his own pace.

He's taken to concentrating on one subject a day, so today he did math and tomorrow he'll be doing art history. The teachers are there if he needs them, he has access to them by phone and email. He also has a mentor he can turn to.

the school is having a pizza party on the 17th where he'll get to hang out with other students for a bit. But they have access to one another through email and student clubs, as well as the to be expected exchanges of myspace addresses and messenger handles.

It's very nice to be able to be involved in his school work and being able to direct him in a manner which I see will best fit him, as opposed to him being in a classroom with 32 other kids and one teacher trying to figure them all out.

All in all I would say it's been awesome.

[t0p]

Kids should really learn how to write with their hands.. I don't know why.. but they should.


Yeah that makes sense. Force kids to learn what you think they should learn - Don't ask why, just do what you say.



A laptop would have been cool.. copy and paste relevant things together.. save loads of money.. but then what happens to the people who can't afford laptops? and are really slow because they have to hand write everything and the teacher won't wait?

??? :confused:

[Megaptera]

My son's school (UK) termed an 'ICT, Maths & Technology' school so has desktops in most classrooms and desktops in other areas (eg Library if they're still called that!!??). This makes it unnecessary for pupils to lug their laptops around with them. There's also a 'moodle' that they can access from home to work on docs etc started at school that need to be finished at home.Flashdrives for school work only (no games!) are allowed.
I'd be worried from security point of view if the pupils had to carry laptops to/from school.
Mobile phones (cell phones) have to be switched off & out of sight during school hours.
So overall my son's in a fortunate position.
He dual boots Linux Mint / Vista on his home laptop & is really keen to learn more about Linux.

[Warpnow]

It's quite convoluted. The official policy of the district is that a student must have his or her cell phone turned off and away out of sight in their backpack. You are not allowed to use them on school property. Furthermore cell phones with cameras are forbidden. In reality, at least in my school, if a teacher simply sees your cell phone they confiscate it, no questions asked.

Heh, I was a jackass in High School. The principle of my school once tried to confiscate a book from me and I simply told her no and went to my next class. I got a detention, which I didn't go to. My parents didn't really care because they thought the rule was stupid.

Plus, my parents weren't about to be telling me I shouldn't be reading, especially when its during my free time, just because the book wasn't what the teacher deemed appropriate (Harry Potter, it was banned at my school).

Edit: But that's prolly why I dropped out of High School in 10th grade and enrolled full time in college.

[Sashin]

My school allows them. People are using them, and I can connect to the schools wifi.

Might have to do with the fact, that year 9's are getting free laptops in Australia. I think I'm connecting to theirs (I'm in year 11)

However the internet is very very filtered, (they use a whitelist not a blacklist). So it's not pratical for research.

[BslBryan]

When I was in high school it didn't much matter whether or not you brought your computer. There were ethernet cables at hand if needed, and if you could find wi-fi, it was unsecured.

[geekygirl]

When I was in high school you were cool if you owned a Commodore 64 or a Vic-20, and in my final year of school an Amiga or Atari...

Laptop? we all had notebooks but no laptop ;)

[jonathanysp]

well in my school in hk, you can use laptops during class if youre in the upper years. but youre still encouraged the use the school's wifi which is awesome.

[megamania]

Kids should really learn how to write with their hands.. I don't know why.. but they should.



Yeah that makes sense. Force kids to learn what you think they should learn - Don't ask why, just do what you say.

??? :confused:
I realized that the most of the things I was forced to learn in school (with me screaming "why should I study this?") are the ones I am happier to know now.

If I hadn't a chance to learn literature, ancient Greek, some physics (and even handwriting) at school, now I'd just have no idea what they are. I'd have no idea of the pleasure of reading books, for example.

The things I need for work (I'm a bank manager) I can learn every day. The things I don't need, well... I'm glad I learnt them at school.

So, yes, it probably makes sense to "force" students to learn how to write with a pen - simply because everything you learn makes you a better person in the long term.

[Swagman]

When I was in high school you were cool if you owned a Commodore 64 or a Vic-20, and in my final year of school an Amiga or Atari...

Laptop? we all had notebooks but no laptop ;)

lol

Our Notebooks were REAL notebooks ..ie: made of paper !!

Those people that owned a Sharp Elsimate where deemed as "Minted".. Not that we were allowed to use them.

[Finalfantasykid]

I wasn't allowed when I was in High School, at least not in class, you could use them in spares.

But they were considering allowing them and having WiFi for the next year, after I graduated. So they might allow them now...

[Swagman]

I wasn't allowed when I was in High School, at least not in class, you could use them in spares.

But they were considering allowing them and having WiFi for the next year, after I graduated. So they might allow them now...


You weren't allowed in school ?

You a Baaaaad bOy ?

[Danoz]

When I was in high school (not that long ago! Graduated 03') it was unusual for students to have personal laptops so it wasn't really an issue. It will be interesting how a trend towards cost-efficient netbooks will effect K-12 policy on these devices.

It is funny how "passing notes" has become texting or IMing from a cell phone or mobile device :).

[Earl_Maroon]

Back in the day, just a few years ago, kids didn't have their own laptops. I wouldn't know.

[calrogman]

We can bring our computers to school, but we can't use the schools wifi.

Are they using WEP or MAC filtering? Either is easy to get past, just sayin'.

[venator260]

Students must learn to write properly (with a pen) if for no other reason than college requires it. I wrote pages long essays while in school (2009 grad), and it wasn't just because of the fact that I was a history major. To do tests on a laptop would invite cheating. I personally found taking notes (at the college level) to be much simpler with pen and paper than typing, and I had equal access to both.

As a certified teacher with classroom experience, there is no way that I would allow personal laptops the overwhelming majority of the time. Students may say that they are taking notes, when it reality they are surfing Myspace or playing Flash games. When projects required it, (most days), there would be access to school provided laptops, and I utilized a program that allowed me to see what was on all the screens at all times. Reasonable time limits were also set to ensure that if a student wasn't working, they would not be finished with the assignment and receive a less than stellar grade. There is no way to ensure that all students would have access to personal laptops, making them useless for classroom use. Thus, there is few good reasons to allow personal laptops, and some very good reasons against it.

Cell phones also have no place in school, during school hours. They are too much of a distraction and have no positive educational value. If the parents need to speak to their children while they are at school, they can call the office. Students should leave their phones in their lockers while school is in session, and teachers absolutely should have the ability to confiscate phones whenever they see them. As I said, there is absolutely no good reason why a student should have them out during school hours. Before and after school is a different situation; however, while at school, the phones should be off and in a secure place (locker, backpack, pocket, etc...)

[Warpnow]

Students must learn to write properly (with a pen) if for no other reason than college requires it. I wrote pages long essays while in school (2009 grad), and it wasn't just because of the fact that I was a history major. To do tests on a laptop would invite cheating. I personally found taking notes (at the college level) to be much simpler with pen and paper than typing, and I had equal access to both.


Well, you might find that. It depends largely on your major I suppose. I could not take notes on all my classes with pen and paper. It would be impossible. I have to enter data into spreadsheets as its called out at a fast pace, then I have to create new collumns which calculate new data. Sometimes I have to use the spreadsheet to render a graph before I can participate in the class discussion. This process takes 45 minutes by hand, and about 3 or 4 by computer. It just would waste alot of our time to not have laptops in class.

[Tristam Green]

When I was in high school, I took my father's hand-me-down laptop with me for two reasons:


1.) Note-taking during Writing and Literature classes. Math notes are MUCH easier to do by hand.

2.) Playing games during study hall, which my observer didn't mind.


There was a friend of mine in my English Lit class who took notes on his Handspring Treo (back in the day) with a fold-out keyboard+dock combination he'd plug into.

[davo11]

only for special needs and no internet which sucks

[chriskin]

I really wish I could bring a netbook to type my notes in class but our school won't allow it because they are a distraction, and I do somewhat agree. What about your school?

when i was at school , they would hunt you down if you brought a netbook at school

at uni , notebooks and netbooks are more than welcome

[Yes]

You can bring in your own laptops for a presentation or something, but the wi-fi is secured and I don't think teachers would let you take notes on them. In all of the English, science, and math classes we have carts of laptops, so if the teacher wants to use them for a lesson all the students can just grab one off the cart for the period.

[The Real Dave]

Varies a lot between teachers and years. Whilst I was in Transition Year, everyone brought in laptops and netbooks, and we got alot of work done. My by the way has open but proxy filtered internet access.

Move into 5th year, and you would not be allowed. I tried, and put forward quite a good arguement, but was beaten by the "You can't do your Leaving Cert" on a laptop line.

As for iPods, mobiles and other gadgets, outside of class, fine, in class, bad and bye bye :) Something I very much disagree with though is that there also banned during supervised study afterschool, phones, laptops, iPods the lot. I figure its my study time, I should be left use whatever tools I use to help study. I type faster than I ever wrote, the keys make little to no sound, so no disturbance. My iPod tunnels Irish and German texts into my ears to help with my Oral and Aural exams. Why shouldn't I be allowed use it as a study aid? Or with some music to block out the sound of the world, without disturbing others?

My school had been thinking of banning mobile phones altogether, and at the time we all just laughed. A week later, my IT teacher brought in a shoebox with a plug dangling from it. He plugged it into the wall and poof, no one could get network in the school. Its not a small school, and to this day I don't know how he put that much power in something that small, but the mans a legend :)

[magmon]

Our kids bring in all sorts of gadgets. I disagree with letting them bring mobiles and ipods, but see the value of laptops. Our management are a little lax on this though.

Phones are necessary. What if a kid misses the bus? If they don't have a phone, they're screwed. Yes, I realize they can go to the office, but there is absolutely no privacy and every district has an odd number you have to push before actually dialing. What if there is an emergency? A death in the family?

Ipods shouldn't be banned either. Now, they shouldn't be used in class, but anyone can listen to music during lunch or free periods.

[LookTJ]

My school(both high school and middle) allowed to bring laptops. Their wifi was open, but they had a web filter,

Which people bypassed with Vtunnel. I went the ssh approach, sometimes to download games, watch youtube videos out of boredom. Though I do not encourage this practice since some teachers might give you the slip.

[geekygirl]

Its interesting to note with some of the attitudes displayed in this thread that in the 15 or so years since I was in High School that *suddenly* writing an essay by *gasp* hand on paper is now seen is unreasonable and impractical. That mathematics (integral calculus, trigonometry, vectors, quadratic equations and all the other maths I had to study in my final two years at high school) can no longer by done without the use of a graphing calculator (which were banned at my school - we even had to learn how to use *shock horror* logarithmic tables lol).

Subject matter for topics such as English and Mathematics has not really changed that much in the years - I have spoken to several of recent high school graduates at my Uni about what they actually studied in their final year...

Having seen some of the current school curriculum over here in Australia and how it hasn't really improved or the subject matter become harder than what it was just over 15 years ago, what is the issue again?
I fail to see *why* a laptop is needed, and seen as a tool, and a requirement at a high school level apart from when utilising one at home for research, or in the library for study - whats with this "I should be allowed to use a notebook to take notes in class because my handwriting stinks" rubbish? I also fail to see why kids whinge about this sort of thing, and its purely from a standpoint that such things have always just been there I guess and they are as such, used to that fact.

I can hardly wait to see what my 2 and 3 year old's are going to be *expecting* to carry with them by the time they get to High School ;)

It's a funny attitude to have as not all jobs in the real world will give you a laptop to take notes on or do your work with you know. In fact, some jobs actually *do* require you to be able to do some things in your head and be able to write things down on paper in a legible manner ;)
Not all high school graduates are likely to be given jobs where a laptop for note taking purposes will be issued to them as the norm....personally as someone involved with potential employee interviews and subsequent selections, I would be rather interested to hear what these kids who are eventually going to enter the workforce expect as a part of their employment package, surely you don't think I am going to offer out laptops now do you?!

lol

I can understand the use of a notebook at a University level, but I am not that old to have forgotten the group of kids who always sat at the back of a classroom doodling or generally wasting time (ie not learning) - all that means is these days they use the guise of a laptop to cover up wasting time.

Guess once you hit thirty you no longer *get it* anymore :P