Laptops -- The Best Investment?

The Madison Daily Leader reports this evening on the Chester school district's positive experience thus far wih the governor's "Classroom Connections" program, the pilot program that helped 20 South Dakota high schools provide laptop computers to every one of their students. Chester principal Mike Reinhiller says the kids have taken good care of the computers thus far -- in Reinhiller's words, "It's amazing, when you have a $1,300 computer in your hands, how well they take care of it." He also talks about the necessary filtering and monitoring software and extra teacher training time involved. Noting that the Madison school district is considering investing in $1300 Tablet PCs for its high school students, the article quotes Reinhiller's advice to Madison's teachers: "[H]ave an open mind and get ready to teach in the 21st Century because I think these laptops are here to stay."

But why are they here to stay? Tellingly absent from the report is any comment on the laptops producing any improved academic outcomes at Chester. How important is a $1300 computer to helping kids learn to analyze and communicate about vital issues of the day? Are they important enough to justify, as is being discussed up in Groton, switching to a four-day school week so teachers can spend some of their Fridays learning how to use those laptops? South Dakota Politics' redoubtable Professor Schaaf (who directed me to the aforelinked Aberdeen American News article, thank you!) urges school districts not to jump on the technology bandwagon and instead "devote more money to teacher pay rather than technological gimmicks."

My experience in the classroom inclines me to agree. Computers facilitate some really cool tricks (like my homemade auto-grading 100-question Mega Vocab Quiz that I give to my students as part of semester exams), but they also lock a district into all sorts of extra costs, measurable in money and man-hours.* Sometimes all computers do is help us make mistakes faster and on a much grander scale. If money's tight, let's focus on immediate needs first. Get good teachers and pay them what they deserve. Good teachers can inspire kids with pencil and paper or even a walk down the street. Give me newer, sleeker tools to use in the classroom, and I'll happily use them, but not if the school has to cut staff and other programs (or raise taxes again) to afford them.

*I should say "person-hour," but oh! the alliteration!