Why Aren’t Tablets Allowed at JD?

Now that we’ve banned phones on campus, I think it’s more than fair to expand to another option.

A+tablet+could+be+useful+for+helping+with+homework+and+notes.

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A tablet could be useful for helping with homework and notes.

This year has been rough on the students.

Our money towards JD hoodies can now be considered wasted, and it’s now a first-degree felony to be caught with a phone. At this rate, we’ll be entering college with student debt as well as leaving with it.

I know I could really use some relief as of now.

Hi, I’m a JD student who believes we deserve to have tablets as an option for our in-school device, and when you think about the reasons given to why we couldn’t have phones, it makes complete sense. 

Tablets are a very efficient option when looking for a device at JD. Unless you are taking AP computer science (which if you were, I think you would be the type of person to have a laptop), you don’t need a laptop to keep up with class activities. We mainly write on google documents, go onto moodle and take quizzes, or look up a website to read from, which can all be accomplished with a tablet.

Unlike a laptop, tablets are more portable and durable, as they take up less space and can be outfitted with cases for protection. A big plus is that tablets are often more affordable than laptops, with an average price of $150 – $250. Unless you’re buying a Chromebook, a laptop is going to be significantly higher. This presentation of a more economic option would be a nice benefit for students who already have to pay hefty tuition for a private school. Don’t get me wrong, I love this school, but sometimes the demands that are made on our pockets are a bit much.

The administration likes to assert that a tablet is not the same thing as a laptop and that the use of game apps can be quite a nuisance in the classroom. News flash: You can play games on a laptop too. In fact, it’s a lot easier. You don’t even have to spend time downloading an app, you can just go on google and look up Snake, Tetris, or The 2048 game.

The 2048 game (left), Snake (middle), and Tetris (right) are all popular games to play on a laptop.

We were told that students kept abusing phones by having them out during class sneakily. I’ll be the first to admit that this was true. However, this wouldn’t be an issue with tablets. It’s not like you can fit a tablet in your pocket, and that was the factor that made it so easy to sneak phones. Tablets would be so easily visible by teachers, that if a student were to get away with it, the blame should be on the teacher, not the student.

Another concern towards tablets is that you can text and use social media from them, like a phone. The administration believes that this communication with friends and parents serve as a distraction from our academics, and can be unhealthy for us. (as if overloading a kid on 4-plus hours a day on homework isn’t healthy right?) The problem is that kids have already breached this concern with the current laptop situation. Imessage comes base on all macs, and there are messaging apps that can be downloaded on other computer brands. I have a Lenovo, and I went and downloaded one prior to the school year. If the school wanted to address this concern, the ban on phones was not the way to go.

The problems with phones shouldn’t be viewed as a problem with tablets. When visualized in a real situation, a tablet cannot be used the same as a phone, and the factors that do stay the same also apply to laptops as well. Unless we are going to ban devices as a whole, we ought to stop being as stringent on device requirements. It’s about time that logic is applied to the handbook.