Dear Sir/Madam
Please allow me some space in your newspaper to complain about something that is disturbing, and many are not educated on the seriousness of the problem.
Here is the problem: some schools are mandating that all their students possess laptops or tablets, and that these devices be used in classes on a daily basis.
A local optometrist has warned us about the effects of regular screen time on our eyes. Regular screen time increases the risk of nearsightedness. In addition to bearing the cost of an electronic device, many parents will soon have to fork out money for glasses and eye doctor visits. This policy of mandatory laptop or tablet ownership will hurt families’ wallets.
In addition, like our local optometrist has said, nearsightedness does not end with wearing glasses. In fact, nearsightedness increases one’s chances of developing more serious eye diseases that can lead to blindness – like glaucoma, retinal detachment, etc. Prevention is better than cure!
Another major concern, especially with knowledge of how the environment affects us, is e-waste. These devices are deliberately designed to last only a few years. How many people have had to change their devices after less than 5 years – less than the time allocated for secondary school! Of course, this will affect parents’ wallets even further by possibly having to buy more than one device during their children’s secondary school career. Plus, our solid waste sector will be overwhelmed with the extra e-waste being produced; how will it all be disposed of?
We often complain about capitalism. Yet, we aid and abet capitalism. Who will really benefit from mandates that all secondary students must have laptops? The answer is the big businesses of developed countries. We make unethical rules that make ourselves poorer and the big tech companies richer.
I hope officials from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health read this and ban school administrators from mandating laptop/tablet ownership by all students. Many of us went to school when these devices were rare or even unheard of, and we learnt just fine.
A concerned citizen.
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I absolutely agree!
It is the way of the world. If our children do not keep up with today’s technology they will be left behind. There are screens and other ways to mitigate against eye damage. The real danger to the eyes of the youth is being done by the phones on which they spend a whole lot more time on social media. Take away or restrict the use of the phone and problem of eye damage is solved. And I hate to hear this crap about poor people can’t afford. My generation and my parent’s generation were far from rich but made sacrifices for the education of their children to enable them to make a better life.
Children don’t need to keep up with today’s technology to avoid being left behind. I had university lecturers who were proficient at using computers, and they certainly didn’t use them while they were children in school because they weren’t around yet. It doesn’t take long for a person to become computer literate.
Parents need be held responsible for their children. Or are you suggesting that the School Administrators and encouraging, the constant use of these devices for social media during school hours? Regrettably, most of us spend too much time straining our eyes reading small print or mobile devices. We then purchase lenses of 150, 200 or more. One alternative is to increase the size of you characters on your phones, laptops and desktops. Another is having the device do the reading to you.
Even CSEC students cannot write properly, nor read properly. They are very intolerant if the answers to every problem is not given to them instantly, even by their teachers conducting a class exam. The teachers have surrendered. The parents, who are the main culprits because they supply their children with all these devices, have come to realize that soon their children will be leaving school and do not know how to read nor write properly.
The children even refuse to commit information to memory. Some seem to be shell shocked when they enter the exam room and realize what they “write” would have to come from their heads and put ‘on paper’ with their hand. They would not be able to check the spelling of a word nor its meaning, nor can they delete and copy/paste.
The online classrooms are text books that will only be opened once or twice. Going back to check anything will give the message ‘page has timeout’.
The prediction is within the next 5 year CXC will have to start allowing students to bring their devices to the exam room or face major embarrassment at the lower pass percentages.
Why can’t the board of education purchase the chrome books for each student?
There should probably be some more consideration and discussion with and among teaching experts in each subject area and IT teachers about the why’s, when’s, and how often – the actual objectives of having kids make use of these devices, when are they helpful, when not etc. I personally think it might be best to start out with focus on developing basic skills in every subject and making more use of traditional methods with occasional use of technology and then progress to using the technology more. In that way students can understand the reasons for the technology and how best to make use of it e.g. first learn to write script, then cursive (to be able to read grandma’s old documents), then type on a computer; first learn to read paper books, use print dictionaries, visit a library, research using encyclopedias and other printed books, then research online using reputable sites etc.; first learn to do math on paper, then using a calculator, then using a full computer e.g. spreadsheets, graphs etc. I also think a lot of the IT classes for small kids fill their minds with a lot of confusing information that they have a hard time understanding or remembering e.g. talking about plotters as output devices. They don’t even understand graphing yet, how can they remember things they have no frame of reference for? Or, trying to memorise icons that they never use – that’s an unnecessary cognitive burden. Why not just have them work on projects (linked to what they have already learned in other subjects) that allow them to practice e.g. by typing a letter or short story together in class, they will more naturally learn the icons. They can learn more of the computer theory much more easily at a later age. So, they don’t all maybe need a personal device. But, every family’s home should have one.
They can work on projects together in class using the school’s shared devices, and they can work on projects at home at the right time using the family’s shared device. There doesn’t need to be a requirement for every child to have a personal device.
There should definitely be a system for the environmentally safe disposal of old devices.
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