By Monika Gerges, Staff Writer
As of the 2019-2020 school year, every student from Huntington Beach Unified High School District was given the option to either use a Chromebook provided by the school or opt out and bring their own device to use. During registration before the fall semester officially started, all students needed to fill out a contract and submit it to the district, promising responsibility of the Chromebook or to bringing their own device instead.
It’s been a month of school and teachers have been assigning tremendous amounts of work and are expecting their students to bring their device with them every day. However, on some days students do not even use their Chromebooks or take them out. At other times, the Chromebooks are very important to bring and are used for tests or completing assignments.
Due to this point, the Chromebook plan is extremely inconvenient. Most of the time students are unaware of whether they need to bring their Chromebooks with them to school or not. This leaves them with the struggle of either not bringing their computers and needing them or bringing them and not using them, but having to lug them around for the rest of the day. The Chromebooks are quite heavy, especially when combined with the weight of binders, notebooks, other books, as well as other supplies that are also expected of students to bring.
I feel as though the Chromebooks in the plan are also unnecessary since during previous years students used computers provided to them during class instead of bringing an assigned Chromebook home and used their own computers at home. This system was smooth and perfect, since it ensured that students would have something to use to complete their work during school hours but they did not have to take responsibility for it even in their own homes.
At Fountain Valley High School, the majority of students are able to complete their work at home using their own devices. Some students may be having a difficult time obtaining a technological device, but students who are facing such issues should be taken care of aside from all other students. The new Chromebook plan should be applied only to those who are unable to reach a computer to study and do their work. This way, these students can be provided with the benefits of the Chromebook plan while the rest of the students do not have to face its consequences. The rest of the students should only be supplied with Chromebooks during their classes and when they go home they rely on their own devices.
While Chromebooks add an extra weight to the things required of students to bring to class daily, they do not provide much aid as opposed to the previous Chromebook plans from years before. If the Chromebook plan is to be added to the new curriculum, the use of textbooks should be eradicated in turn. This new plan would truly be efficient if the textbooks were already provided for students on their Chromebooks, so that they would have to worry and take care of one thing, and that thing only.
Furthermore, with the new Chromebook plan, teachers should revolve their syllabus around the new addition of the Chromebook. Teachers should limit the amount of work they assign that requires other tools besides the Chromebooks so that students are not overwhelmed with all materials expected of them to use.
However, neither of these things are taking place which questions the efficiency and benefit of the Chromebook plan.
Additionally, Chromebooks are really only useful during class-time. When students return to their homes, they have their own computers that they rely on. For example, when I come home from school and begin to do my homework, I never gravitate towards using the Chromebook. Instead, I use my own computer to get my work done, but I still have to remember to charge my Chromebook and bring it to school the next day.
The extremely heavy weight of students’ backpacks has been a longtime concern for parents and students. This new Chromebook plan only adds harm to that. Jaime Quinn of Professional Physical Therapy states that wearing massive backpacks can lead to a plethora of negative impacts. Firstly, these hefty backpacks can cause strain on the neck, shoulders, and back as well as fatigued muscles which can lead to poor posture with can cause injuries in the future
If these risks are already present with the basic backpack that contains supplies and necessities, then the Chromebooks are only adding more destruction to that.
The Chromebook plan also adds an unnecessary responsibility for students who may be unable to watch over their computers for the duration of the entire school day.
Athletes, for instance, may find it hard to keep track of the Chromebooks as they may get dislocated during after school practice or damaged during away games. I can deem this true myself, as I find it hard carrying my laptop around from class to class as well as taking care of it during practice or games where it may be left sitting in the sun.
All in all, the Chromebook plan provides more consequences than it does benefits. It is not an efficient addition to the new school year nor does it make like school life easier for Barons.
Hopefully next year, the structured and more organized plan from preceding years may take place once again.
