Rollcall

College Professors Banning Laptops

March 9, 2010
College instructors are increasingly banning the use of laptops in class, claiming that such devices serve primarily as distractions to students.
The Washington Post reports that professors have outlawed laptop computers in classes at Kieran Mullen, a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma, poured liquid nitrogen onto a laptop and then shattered it on the ground to drive home the point that laptops don't belong in class. The incident, which was watched by over 1 million viewers on YouTube, was later found to be a hoax: Mullen had planted a defunct laptop in the lecture hall ahead of time in anticipation of using it for this purpose. Nevertheless, he still succeeded in making a point.
"It's silly and ostentatious, but it's memorable," said Mullen to OU's student publication, the Facebook instead of paying attention," admitted Taellor Howland, a sophomore at Kansas State University, who was quoted by the Klugerman





I found this article awhile ago when I first was subjected to what is being discussed here.  This semester many of my professors have banned laptop use and also increased taking attendance in lecture.  When this happened all I could think about for awhile was how much things have changed since I was younger.  Growing up, whenever I didn't want to go to school for a day, I could never escape hearing, "Well when you go to college you won't have anyone to make you go, so you should start learning how to get yourself to go on your own."  I never really understood this until my freshman year (obviously).  They weren't kidding, no one was going to make you do anything you didn't want to do!  Now, I feel like I've adjusted to motivating myself and being able to take notes in lecture, study, and schedule my life in a way that makes me successful.  But wait, now if we don't come to class and don't take notes with a particular medium of someone else's liking, we do get penalized? 

I feel like college is taking a step backwards here.  Yes, like it is stated in the article, some kids do get distracted and sit on their laptops and do nothing but shop, or watch videos, or do a billion other things, but that's not everyone.  I've gotten so used to taking my  notes on my computer that I have a whole system set - up for taking my notes and transferring that to studying for exams.  I hate taking notes on paper so much now, that I find myself taking less notes than I would have if I were allowed to use my laptop.  I've come to find out that this is making me less successful on exams and other assignments in my classes.  For those students who do nothing in lecture and don't wish to attend any of their classes and do poorly, that's their own problem and they will have to suffer the consequences.  I'm not perfect, but I do attend 90% of my lectures and do pretty well in school, so why am I being punished for those who don't?

Limiting how students are allowed to take notes and making them attend lecture to earn a good grade is nothing like I would have imagined college to be like as a kid.  We're here as students and young adults, trying to grow up and live in the real world on our own.  Some of us have jobs, student orgs, sports, and a thousand other things piled on top of school and trying to figure this big wide world out.  College is about being an adult and being able to make the right decisions for yourself.  I firmly believe that students should have to continue making these decisions and suffer the consequences if they don't, and at the same time allow those who do make the right decisions to stay ahead and not limit them because of others.