The Pros and Cons of Technology In Schools

Throughout my years of schooling, I have seen the changes in the way students are taught. Whether you are 8 or 80, technology plays a somewhat important role in life. Cell phones, home phones, email and more make the world a lot easier to talk to people, and to grade papers. However, technology is not all that it is shaped up to me.

In elementary school, the closest I got to technology in school is going to the computer lab for typing practice. In middle school, we had tech class where we learned how to use specific programs on computers. It was not until seventh grade when I was introduced to a school tablet. On these tablets we use a math learning center program called digits. There were lots of positives and negatives about this new idea to our school system. Some loved it, some didn’t like it much, and some hated it. For me, I learn better from paper and pencil. I really enjoy writing things out on paper because it helps me remember better and helps me grasp concepts a lot better than doing it on a tablet.

In high school, some classes use almost no paper. Something I could never see happening. With our school laptop, we use google docs, google classroom, schoology and more. Everything seems to be online. I don’t mind writing an essay on a laptop or getting a homework assignment sheet on google classroom, but as soon as the idea of teacher to student seems to weaken, it makes it difficult for me to support it.

I love the app quizlet, but it is a scientific fact that writing something down with help you recognize what you are writing and remember it. I use quizlet because of how helpful it is. I can make a quizlet on my phone and study throughout the day wherever I am. It isn’t always easy to unpack a stack of note cards and study with them throughout the day. I think both are beneficial but for myself personally, I like to focus on the aspect of writing things down for memorization. With classes being online as well as homework, I think it takes away from the true idea of learning.

The pros of the use of technology in school definitely benefit teachers. Instead of having tons of papers to correct, they can simply go online and have an entire folder for each class on their laptop. It makes life so much easier. It is also easier for a student to see homework assignments online than writing them down. Google Classroom is a big help to me because I get to see what I have for homework instead keeping track of a small piece of scrap paper in my abyss of a backpack. I have a forty dollar planner but of course, I will only use a piece of scrap paper to write things down. The cons of technology in school would be the sole fact that writing things down physically helps people remember things better in contrast to typing. I have experienced that first hand and can single-handedly say that I agree with the idea of writing helping you remember things better. Overall, I believe technology in schools should be limited so students can thrive to their fullest potential.

Top