In Defense Of Laptops In The Classroom Summary

497 Words2 Pages
Rebecca Schuman argues in “In Defense of Laptops in the Classroom” that the banning of laptops is not the best solution. Schuman is an education columnist for an online web magazine, Slate, where she has written many critiques on current education issues such as: “Syllabus Tyrannnus” and “Beware of the Gilderoy Lockharts of the University” (Slate). The article targets educators who advocate the banning of laptops in classrooms, in an attempt to convince them otherwise. Schuman asserts that the banning of laptops is not viable, even detrimental to students as there is a paradigm shift from writing to typing down notes, the need to instill a sense of responsibility in students and the opportunity cost of banning laptops. Despite Schuman’s skepticism about the contributions of laptops to a class, she recognizes the paradigm shift from handwritten notes to electronic note taking. Schuman further backs up her argument with the fact that taking notes via laptops has become more affordable than printing notes today (Schuman). Schuman makes a good point of recognizing the insuppressible process and gives evidence for the cause of the laptop’s integration into classrooms. Schuman has substantiated her claim…show more content…
Schuman insists that students should suffer the consequences of their own decisions. However, Schuman is biased against the usefulness of a laptop, and generalizes that majority of the students will be distracted by the laptop and thus having to deal with the consequences of it. The argument does not hold, as with the emergence of smartphones, armed with similar capabilities of web browsing, poses just an equal distraction as the laptop. Therefore, despite Schuman’s point of the need to instill a sense of responsibility in students being important, she should question the self-discipline of the student than making laptops into convenient
Show More
Related

  • Summary Of In Defense Of Laptops In The Classroom

    496 Words  | 2 Pages

    to use laptops in the classroom. In her capacity as a professor, Schuman wrote the opinion article ‘In defense of Laptops in the Classroom’ to encourage college educators to allow the use of laptops in the classroom. Although the arguments she raised were valid, they were not persuasive. In my opinion, while the use of laptops fosters independent learning, they serve as a great distraction to learning and do not promote effective learning in the classroom. The use of laptops fosters

    Read More

More about In Defense Of Laptops In The Classroom Summary

Open Document