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Opinion & Editorial the Racquette 4 the Racquette December 02, 2011 www.theracquette.com Editor-in-Chief Jaclyn Gallo Publisher Benjamin Houck Managing Editor Renee Krusper Advisor Dr. Jen Richardson News Editor Emily Beatty Op/Ed Editor Jaclyn Gallo A&E Editor Carter Jones College Life Editor Liz Raphaelson Comics Editor Bryan Meyer Sports Editor Sam Mallaro Photo Editor Mark Stevens Business Manager Amanda Cacace Advertising Manager Morgan Owen Online Editor Renee Krusper Distribution Manager Cael Manning Historian Cael Manning Secretary Elora Garland Student Advisor Shawon Rodger Staff Writers Alexander Ivanoff Diana Hammond John Rogers Alex Straftis Meghann Lyon Nathan Rubadou Tiffany Miner Carla Furguglietto Annie Smith Staff Photographers AJ McCabe Christina Wahl Jessica Wirth Lia Preuss Ariel Einbinder Copyeditors Katherine Middleton Dianna Hammond Ashley Moore Comic Artists Tim Simmons Drew Jill Wollenstein Interns Esther Kim Address 9039 Barrington Drive SUNY Potsdam Potsdam, NY 13676 E-mail [email protected] The office of the Racquette is located in Room 119 of the Bar- rington Student Union on the SUNY Potsdam campus. The Racquette is partially funded by the Student Goverment Association of SUNY Potsdam. A distribution of 2,000 copies is printed by Newspapers of Northern New York located in Mas- sena, New York. Every member of the public is allowed one free issue and will be charged 50¢ for each ad- ditional issue. Office Hours with President Schwaller The following office hours are for members of the campus community to meet with Presi- dent Schwaller. To make a 15-minute appointment during one of the following times, please contact Diane Brown by phone at extension 2100 or by e-mail at [email protected]: Thursday, December 8 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Deadline for all normal submissions is 7 p.m. the Monday before the next issue of The Racquette. Submissions may be e-mailed to [email protected]. Take notes more efficiently than with pen and pad Back in the day, ancient Egyptians used stone tablets to document critical information of their time. Fast forward to 2011, and things haven’t changed much; our ‘tablets’ have evolved from solid rock to a digital touch screen interface with a bunch of apps that claim to make our daily lives more organized. Our marble notebooks have also undergone some major transforma- tions as well, due to the late Steve Jobs, who we owe our thanks to for the new MacBook Air! Laptops, iPads, E-readers and even our smart- phones are now capable of taking down notes just as efficiently as their ancestors were. Ac- cording to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 88.9 percent of households in the U.S. own a personal computer, and 81 percent of households had internet access in 2005. In his campaign President Obama stated that internet access in homes have become just as essential as landlines and cable, reinforcing the fact that personal computers have evolved from a luxury to a necessity. Digital devices are teaming up to replace all the ancient supplies we used before, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. Our miniature computers and sophisticated gadgets have taken the role as our virtual assistants, al- lowing us to perform our own research as well as keep reliable notes during lectures or pre- sentations. As college students ourselves, it’s no surprise that we’re all too familiar with such demonstrations and dissertations, and it’s never been more important for us to kick our note tak- ing skills up a notch or two. Let’s face it, some of us are known for hav- ing chicken scratch in lieu of actual handwriting. Penmanship may not be our strong suit, and cur- sive is even disappearing in elementary schools now. As we move further into the future, hand- written papers and notes are completing their vanishing act. Aesthetic qualities of handwriting are losing emphasis in schools, as keyboarding classes have become mandatory and penman- ship receives less attention from teachers. The changes in our education in elementary through high school carry on to university classrooms where policies once banning laptops and similar devices are dissipating. It is now a banal sighting to spot a few stu- dents on Microsoft Word in a lecture hall. It’s even more common place to see a few handfuls of students scrolling down their newsfeed on Facebook or on their Tumblr dashboard during a class presentation. Most professors will argue that laptops have become yet another supple- mental distraction to students during class, but they fail to realize a key flaw in their argument. Students who don’t want to pay attention will find a way not to. There are students who are professionals in distracting themselves (and oth- ers), and who will do whatever it takes to avoid doing classwork. Obviously this reflects in their final exam grades, but it’s not the laptop’s fault that students become inattentive; it’s their own. Just like guns don’t kill people, people kill peo- ple – the same goes for technology. As long as we’re able to use laptops appropriately in class and are not getting carried away on Facebook, laptops can be very advantageous during our time in the classroom. CARLA FURGUGLIETTO STAFF WRITER Technology as big a distraction as it is a handy tool Technology is rising in popularity in our cul- ture. It is becoming more practical to own a de- vice that can connect to the internet. With news and other information becoming more readily available and communications becoming easier with e-mail and instant messaging, it is becom- ing more of a necessity to have access to an in- ternet connection. This connection is prompting many more people to purchase personal comput- ers, laptops and smartphones. These devices can be very useful, but can also bring harm, particu- larly in the classroom. With the increasing ease with which people can type in word processing systems and new programs such as Microsoft’s OneNote system, many students are drawn to take notes with their computers. They argue that typing is quicker for them and that they are more organized in the cy- ber world than they are with paper. While this may be true, technology is a huge distraction in classrooms, not only to those surrounding the users, but to the users themselves as well. Those surrounding students who take notes with their computer can have their concentration disrupted by the clicking of the keys as those stu- dents type. Even touch screen computers such as iPads or tablet computers can have annoying random noises. I have had the misfortune of sit- ting beside someone who had an iPad, and their long nails tapping on the screen was just as dis- tracting as the clicking of a keyboard. Anyone who has had a cell phone ring or vibrate near them in the middle of class knows how distract- ing these random noises can be. The surround- ing students can also be curious about what other students are doing on their computers, and they can spend more time trying to sneak glimpses at those students’ screen than taking their own notes. If a student has an iPad or expensive lap- top, other students may spend class feeling jeal- ous that they cannot afford these latest technolo- gies. Distractions for the student using the tech- nology can include easy access to their favorite websites. Students may be more tempted to visit their Facebook page or check email if it is more readily available to them when they should be paying attention to a lecture. Pages can be book- marked for even easier access, which would further increase the chances of a student being drawn to these sites. It is easy to quickly mini- mize or close any sites that the student should not be on if a teacher tries to check in on their attentiveness. Though technology can be very helpful and assist in many different ways of our lives, I feel it should not be allowed for students’ use in classrooms. It would provide the potential for too many distractions. DIANNA HAMMOND STAFF WRITER Technology in the classroom: friend or foe Mark Stevens Are we using computers in class for the right reasons?
