IMAGINE carrying your bookshelf, mailbox, newspapers and a board game or two to class with your every day. Maybe a little distracting, right? Today's modern equivalent is the laptop. Instead of paying attention to lecture, no matter how enthralling, students obsessively check e-mail and read The New York Times. I know because I too am guilty, and I watch my classmates in the row in front of me chat on AIM. It seems anything is more captivating than the professor, no matter how engaging a lecturer he or she is. While cries of "I can take notes better!" and "I can do what I want!" are sure to abound, professors should ban laptops in order to recapture the focused learning environment of the classroom.
David Cole, a Georgetown Law professor, recently wrote an op-ed column for the Washington Post lamenting the classroom scene of a room full of students with eyes glued to glowing laptop screens. The most common response to Cole's questions in class was "Could you repeat the question?" because he dared to direct a question at an unsuspecting, e-mail-checking law student. What once was heralded as a technological boon for the modern student now stands as the greatest impediment to the student's ability to learn.
About six weeks after implementing the ban, Cole conducted an anonymous survey and found that seventy percent of his students liked the policy. Eighty percent said they paid much more attention to class discussion.
Students here at the University pride themselves in their ability to maintain a full course load, participate in club sports, and even bike all the way to Uganda. Unfortunately, multitasking isn't conducive to learning. Students used to doing five things at once simply cannot focus on the lecture if they have the world at their fingertips.
Of course, some students have very poor handwriting or have a learning disability that prevents them from being able to write quickly and assimilate material well. The Learning Needs Center is happy to accommodate these needs, and can either have the professor ask for another student to use carbon copy notes, or give a written explanation to the professor as to why this particular student needs a computer in the classroom. Unless wireless is disabled, though, the rest of the class should pull out the pen and notebook. Vintage is trendy right now, anyway.
Students may find this ban heavy-handed and a needless constraint on their academic freedom. Laptops should not be allowed during lecture for the same reason students shouldn't read newspapers in class. Not only is it rude to professors -- students inevitably pay less attention as well. If busy professors take the time to stand up and lecture, students should do themselves a favor and give their full attention. Furthermore, students sitting next to or behind laptop users are inevitably distracted, so laptop use is no longer only a self-regarding action--it affects other students' ability to focus as well.
Doing five things at once on the laptop, students miss out on the unique educational experience of college, where the student's sole responsibility is to learn as much as possible. Never again will most people have this opportunity, so if professors opt not to ban laptops, students should take it upon themselves not to bring their laptops to class unless it is absolutely necessary.
Whether it's talking on the cell phone while with friends or checking e-mail instead of paying attention in lecture, our generation has accomplished the dubious feat of being physically present while completely mentally absent. More than likely, whatever the student is doing on the laptop is neither more interesting than the lecture nor so important that it cannot wait for an hour. It may seem archaic to prohibit laptops in the classroom, but this seems to be the only way to force students to pay attention to lecture. The temptation to let the mind stray is too alluring to minds so capable.
Marta Cook is an Associate Editor for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at mcook@cavalierdaily.com.
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