No Excuses: A Student's Point of View

Here are year-end comments from a student in my Latin III class about her feelings as a student in a paperless classroom:

For the past two years, our Latin class has experienced what it's like to learn without paper. When we first started to depend solely on our computers for class, I was a bit skeptical; I didn't think that it would be efficient or practical to rely on an internet connection for everything we need. But after working in a paperless environment for so long, it's kind of become a part of my life. The programs and websites that we use on a daily basis and so much more extensive and current than any textbook a class could offer. We've only scratched the surface of the millions of resources that the internet has to offer, and it's reassuring and sort of empowering to know that my options are virtually endless in class.

In my opinion, the entire school needs to go paperless. People who have refused to catch up with the time by now are not going to be able survive in this world which is becoming more and more wireless every day. I don't think there's an excuse for not going paperless, or at least trying to use the programs that our computers and the internet have to offer.

I think it's really important to notice that she thinks there's "no excuse" anymore. Whether you have a 1:1 program or whether your school doesn't even have a computer lab, the message is clear from the kids: there is no excuse.

School boards -- whether urban, suburban, or rural -- need to reallocate funds and bring access, devices, and wi-fi into their buildings. No excuses.

Schools with 1:1 programs implemented need to helps their faculties implement the best the web has to offer in their classrooms with no filters, no blocks, no excuses.

Teachers working in schools that deny ed tech need to stand up and protest the divide schools are helping to perpetuate, find grants, and seek alternatives. No excuses.

Teachers in 1:1 schools who have let tech slip them by either purposefully or not: get with it -- no excuses.

And all those folks who make decisions on independent school boards, public school boards, and educational policy institutions at the local, state, and federal level have to stop giving lip-service to 21C education and start finding the money, start identifying solutions, and stop making excuses.

No excuses.

This is 2010. Let's rethink, reallocate, and revolutionize.

No excuses.