My situation is a little bit unique. In my school not only do we have laptop computers completely banned, but submitted papers must be handwritten as well. The loophole, however, is that the school gets funding from the state government and must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means that students who want to be able to type their work or bring a laptop to class can simply present the school disabilities office with a letter from a doctor describing why the accommodation must be made. Had I known about the rule I never would have enrolled in the school. I didn't know about the rule though so after I found out I went ahead and had my doctor write a letter stating that I had dysgraphia, which is not even remotely true. I just thought it was an impractical rule. I felt guilty briefly, especially since I have a good friend who really is dysgraphic, so I know how irritating it can be trying to explain such a thing to school bureaucrats. The guilt went away though when I realized how many other students had done exactly what I did. In some of my classes as many as half of the students have had laptops or netbooks, which would indicate one of three things: (a) They have a legitimate disability that necessitates the use of a laptop, (b) They had a doctor fabricate some story about a phony or exaggerated disability (like me) (c) They have no excuse and are simply flagrant rule-breakers.
I have never used a laptop in class for note-taking though. I faked my disability only so that I didn't have to write my papers by hand. Nonetheless, the distractions are the same. Students not only browse the web and check email, but they engage in patently disruptive activities too, such as playing computer games, watching videos or listening to music without headphones.
Maybe I take things too personally, but when I see someone reading Facebook during class, I really do get distracted, by anger. Of course, I shouldn't be offended since I'm lying about being disabled also, but students who have a real disability or especially those who fake a disability to be permitted to bring a laptop to class should have the decency to use it appropriately. If they are not using it for note-taking or work they should close it or turn it off, not use it for recreational activities or homework from other classes. The students who have legitimate disabilities have every right to be furious with the students who misuse their laptops during class. That's actually one of the reasons why I choose not to bring a laptop to class. I feel that what I'm doing is already unfair enough to students with legitimate disabilities, so I don't want to push it any farther.
The problem with laptops, at least in my experience, is not as bad as that with mobile phones and media players. Maybe my school is particularly horrible, but I'm always struck by the number of students who listen to music _without_ headphones during class, even going so far as to use portable speakers, as well as students who actually talk on the phone (email or text messages are one thing, voice calls are quite another). The astounding part is that nobody ever tells these people to stop. Granted, it's blatantly hostile behavior, so one may be afraid to approach someone who is demonstrating that they are either not aware of, or consciously choose not to abide by socially appropriate behaviors for the given context, but I think that many disruptive students would, in fact, stop the offending activity if asked politely. Most probably wouldn't even need to be asked twice. People just don't seem to have the guts to ask them to stop, myself included.
I think the solution is incredibly simple though. Schools ought to place signs in classrooms with some common-sense rules, rules that many of us would never imagine actually need to be placed on a sign since most of us would already be aware of them intuitively. For example,
"Please turn off all cell phones, pagers, portable media players and all other hand-held devices"
Slashdot Mirror
My situation is a little bit unique. In my school not only do we have laptop computers completely banned, but submitted papers must be handwritten as well. The loophole, however, is that the school gets funding from the state government and must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means that students who want to be able to type their work or bring a laptop to class can simply present the school disabilities office with a letter from a doctor describing why the accommodation must be made. Had I known about the rule I never would have enrolled in the school. I didn't know about the rule though so after I found out I went ahead and had my doctor write a letter stating that I had dysgraphia, which is not even remotely true. I just thought it was an impractical rule. I felt guilty briefly, especially since I have a good friend who really is dysgraphic, so I know how irritating it can be trying to explain such a thing to school bureaucrats. The guilt went away though when I realized how many other students had done exactly what I did. In some of my classes as many as half of the students have had laptops or netbooks, which would indicate one of three things: (a) They have a legitimate disability that necessitates the use of a laptop, (b) They had a doctor fabricate some story about a phony or exaggerated disability (like me) (c) They have no excuse and are simply flagrant rule-breakers.
I have never used a laptop in class for note-taking though. I faked my disability only so that I didn't have to write my papers by hand. Nonetheless, the distractions are the same. Students not only browse the web and check email, but they engage in patently disruptive activities too, such as playing computer games, watching videos or listening to music without headphones.
Maybe I take things too personally, but when I see someone reading Facebook during class, I really do get distracted, by anger. Of course, I shouldn't be offended since I'm lying about being disabled also, but students who have a real disability or especially those who fake a disability to be permitted to bring a laptop to class should have the decency to use it appropriately. If they are not using it for note-taking or work they should close it or turn it off, not use it for recreational activities or homework from other classes. The students who have legitimate disabilities have every right to be furious with the students who misuse their laptops during class. That's actually one of the reasons why I choose not to bring a laptop to class. I feel that what I'm doing is already unfair enough to students with legitimate disabilities, so I don't want to push it any farther.
The problem with laptops, at least in my experience, is not as bad as that with mobile phones and media players. Maybe my school is particularly horrible, but I'm always struck by the number of students who listen to music _without_ headphones during class, even going so far as to use portable speakers, as well as students who actually talk on the phone (email or text messages are one thing, voice calls are quite another). The astounding part is that nobody ever tells these people to stop. Granted, it's blatantly hostile behavior, so one may be afraid to approach someone who is demonstrating that they are either not aware of, or consciously choose not to abide by socially appropriate behaviors for the given context, but I think that many disruptive students would, in fact, stop the offending activity if asked politely. Most probably wouldn't even need to be asked twice. People just don't seem to have the guts to ask them to stop, myself included.
I think the solution is incredibly simple though. Schools ought to place signs in classrooms with some common-sense rules, rules that many of us would never imagine actually need to be placed on a sign since most of us would already be aware of them intuitively. For example,