Is the Uprising of Personal Computers Beneficial for Morgan

In recent months at The Morgan School, more students have been bringing their own personal laptops to school. This has called into question whether or not students should be permitted to use their own laptops or required to continue using the Chromebooks the school offers.

Some students who have brought in their own personal laptops say it is easier to learn and that they can get work done faster, rather than using the slower school-issued Chromebooks.

AJ Brown, a senior senior at Morgan, takes photos for the school’s sports teams and of his car. AJ’s business runs off of his camera and personal computer.

“I think students should be able to have their own laptops,” said Brown. Brown believes students have personal work beyond school that they can do on their personal computer as well, which is different from schoolwork. For Brown, it’s tough because on the school-given Chromebooks, they block all the sites that Brown needs to make his videos and the sites that the school lets students ue may be harder to navigate, so having his own personal laptop is easier for him.

For some teachers, the school’s blocked website filters can make it difficult to teach certain topics or access tools they commonly use, such as websites for a criminal law class in Ms. Shook’s curriculum.

Mrs. Shook, a history and criminal law teacher here at The Morgan School, stated, “Violence is on the websites, but history is inherently violent, so it’s hard to block everything that we do because it’s violent.”

Saying that, Mrs.Shook also mentioned there could be downsides if students are not responsible. “It’s our job as teachers to make sure the content that you’re accessing online is safe and making sure that you are on something appropriate.”

Assistant principal Christopher Luther reiterated, “of my 30 years here, you could never bring your own device,” affirming the “policy that during instructional hours, which is the start of the day to the end of day, you can’t use a computer.”

On the student side of this argument, Brown can see, if someone were to abuse the permission to use personal laptops, there would be problems and reasons to take it away, but he believes using personal laptops could benefit students.

“Teachers could walk around more and see who’s abusing their privilege, maybe then they won’t let those people bring personal computers in anymore,” said Brown.

The Morgan School hasn’t dedicated itself to any changes yet, but it’s clear that a lot of students care about this issue. As technology continues to play a larger role in school, questioning the right balance between freedom and responsibility is likely essential for making personal laptops work for all students.