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= Laptops ARE the way froward for education =

Will the future turn back to the use of pen and paper? Or will laptops become the way forward? I believe that laptops are absolutely essential to a good education and helping children in there future carrier. The world has turned into an electronic age and there is no going back. We can no longer walk down the street, drive to work or even leave the house without seeing a mobile phone or a PC. Nearly every job a child will apply for will call for the use of laptops, computers or some form of electronic system. Without laptops in schools the educational system would crumble. We all know of the work load that bears down on the backs of our innocent children, all forced to carry round this heavy work load. The average weight a child between the age of 11 and 12 has to carry on their back is 9.3kg - 22% of their body weight, and the average maximum load is 11.5kg - about 28% of their body weight. With laptops we could dramatically decrease this weight and replace all the text books and reference materials with one simple laptop. Laptops are also good for teachers and help simplify methods of teaching and homework. With computers teachers can create there own websites containing reference material and an area in which students can place there

coursework/homework. Mr. Tarr a teacher at the International School of Toulouse has created a website called Active History which has won an award for its teaching material. However as things become smaller and more intelligent the prices shoot sky high and so will school fees, would you be willing to double the price for your child’s education. When laptops become smaller the technology needed to make them increases in price. This means that schools will have to pay more to supply there students with laptops and this increase will come out in the bills parents have to pay for their children’s education. For example a standard Dell would have cost between 400-600 pounds, now we are looking a prices between 600-700 for more modern and updated. Also all this teaching material can also be a hassle. Mrs. Moore another teacher at the International School of Toulouse has attempted to make a website where students can place their coursework using a program called ‘wikispaces’. She says “It’s a hassle”. It took a while for the website to become fully functional but when it was it was very clear that the hassle was worth it, because now the entire class’s coursework is in one easy to find place. With laptops becoming smaller and smaller as the years pass by it appears the need for colossal cases to carry them has disappeared. Laptops have now become so small they are very easily transported, unlike normal computers. This means all work can be put into one place without the hassle of excessive amounts of reading material and exercise books. A normal laptop will have a hard drive space of 160GB that’s the equivalent of 4,000,000 essays on word document. This would otherwise be impossible to store if done on paper. Also laptops do not have to plugged into the mains all the time unlike normal computers, this means you can pull them out and work on some coursework or an essay; anyplace at anytime. They also save energy therefore laptops do not produce as much heat, along with using less paper all saving the environment. However with all our work being on in one place we are taking an awfully big risk, would you put all your eggs in one basket? If all of someone’s work is on their laptops, if that laptop breaks or gets stolen all their work is now gone. However this is easily fixed by telling students to constantly save their work onto a memory stick or external drive. There have also been several cases were students have become too used to using laptops that when it comes to using pen and paper in a test or and exam there would be problems. Especially in their future career they may be put down for writing or spelling issues. However with PCs becoming more popular and more widely used it is quite likely that the jobs these children will apply for will revolve around the use of laptops and computers. But not all is bad as most of these counter arguments can be flipped; proving overall laptops are just what modern schools need. I am sure that any school that is using laptops at this point would never even consider returning back to paper and pen. I am quite sure that I speak for all teachers and students when I say laptops are the way forward.