Introduction
The education system has been dynamic ever since its inception in various countries across the world. The dynamism of the education system revolves around the curriculum, syllabus, and content; however, there is a new revolution of educational materials used by students.
In the contemporary world, the education system has turned digital through the introduction of e-learning over the Internet and softcopy reading materials, which demand the usage of computers in schools.
The system pioneered in the developed countries, but it is quickly getting into developing countries although the system has not replaced the old one entirely. School notebooks, which are now referred to as the old norm, have numerous benefits. Laptop notebooks have not yet been fully tested, as they are not fully adopted into the system yet. Therefore, notebook laptops should not replace school notebooks.
School Notebooks
Notebooks have been in use ever since the invention of writing papers in the Middle Ages. They were the basic writing materials in the development of academic systems even before civilization. Notebooks demand from the students to be fully attentive in the classroom since they are supposed to write notes as lessons continue.
It is paramount for students to learn how to write notes for reading and reference purposes for such practices enhance their understanding capabilities and attentiveness in the classroom. Therefore, eliminating school notebooks from the academic systems will make students less attentive to class work, as they will not be fully engaged in writing.
Notebooks are very essential for the development of writing skills. Writing skills help students to communicate effectively through writing coupled with enhancing handwriting neatness. Education begins at the early childhood education level. The student is taught the basic skills, which include writing skills. However, writing skills develop gradually as a student progresses to advanced stages of education.
Therefore, eliminating school notebooks at early stages of education would deny students the opportunity to improve their handwriting in terms of neatness and speed, which are necessary elements in writing skills (Weaver & Nilson, 2005). School notebooks are easily affordable and they need no maintenance costs, thus they are more practical for learning purposes of people with low income.
The education system should have cost-effective mechanisms that enable the majority of people to afford it with less or no strain. Hence, it is very important to ensure that every student can easily find the money for the basic learning requirements in order to eliminate chances of some individuals being left behind in the process (Barak et al., 2006).
School notebooks are reasonably priced for the majority of students and they do not require any power supply to access their contents, as in the case with laptops. Therefore, the world is yet to adopt notebook laptops in schools in order to eliminate school notebooks, as some students will be disadvantaged by the high costs of buying and maintaining notebook laptops.
Notebook Laptops
Notebook laptops are expensive devices for learning in terms of their affordability and maintenance. Notably, children are quick learners and they should grasp the basic skills for e-learning very easily. However, they love exploration and thus they damage some devices in an effort to learn more about them. Therefore, the adoption of laptop notebooks faces a challenge of the high cost of maintenance and especially the repairing costs.
On the other hand, school notebooks that have been in use ever since the adoption of the education system during civilization do not face such challenges. This observation implies that students can be subjected to new rules to protect notebook laptops from getting damaged, and that will interfere with their normal habits (Weaver & Nilson, 2005).
Also, notebook laptops have security challenges that may have adverse effects on the education system. The adoption of notebook laptops will lead to the elimination of school notebooks getting no longer useful as reading and writing will take place on notebook laptops.
Notebook laptops face two serious security problems, which include theft of devices and infection by viruses. In case of theft, students will lose personal information and notes saved on the laptops. Additionally, the chances of getting back a stolen laptop are minimal as the devices are on high demand in the digital market.
In case of infection by viruses, a notebook laptop may lose data and crucial information stored on the hard disk drives. Hence, school notebooks are safer for usage in the education system than notebook laptops, which can lose all information necessary for studying (Reed et al., 2009).
Moreover, notebook laptops may not allow students to engage in other activities outside the classroom since they offer multiple options, which keep a student glued to the screen. Additionally, it may be hard for teachers and tutors to have students operate the devices uniformly in the classroom.
The problem may lead to some students failing to be attentive to the class work as they keep themselves busy with other tasks and distracted by the devices even during lessons (Granberg & Witte, 2005). This assertion implies that the majority of students are likely to perform poorly when laptops are adopted, and, to protect them, it would be necessary to retain the old norm of the school notebooks usage.
Comparison between School Notebook and Laptops Notebook
School notebook is more convenient for a young learner than a notebook laptop. A young student needs to learn how to handwrite at early stages of learning for easy understanding of the content taught at class. It is harder for a young learner to understand learning with the help of laptop notebook than when using school notebook.
Young learners, who in most cases are children of at least three years of age, prefer learning through things that engage all common senses. School notebooks are more convenient for young learners as the writing process involves more senses, unlike working with laptops when a learner is required to operate the keyboard only.
However, laptops are convenient for learners beyond the fourth grade as they are above the exploration age, and they can easily be attentive in the classroom without being pushed by their tutors (Zucker, 2004).
On the other hand, notebook laptops are more convenient than school notebooks in terms of content and compatibility. A notebook laptop is capable of handling large contents of reading materials, whereas school notebooks handle only what the learner has written in the form of notes. Hence, notebook laptops are better than school notebooks for their ability to carry a lot of information, which is necessary for the learner.
Also, students carry their backpacks, which are often very heavy due to various school notebooks for each school subject, but with the adoption of notebook laptops in the education system, students will only be required to carry a notebook laptop and a few jotting materials, which is an advantage for the students.
In addition to carrying many education materials, notebook laptops also make learning at home easier compared to the usage of school notebooks. Notebook laptops are capable of being used for Internet applications, and thus if a student misses a certain class, the related notes and other class work can be sent to the student via email for home studies.
This observation implies that notebook laptops will bring more comfort to the education system as students will be able to access education from distant places with ease than it has been the case when school notebooks are being used.
On the other hand, the introduction of notebook laptops in the education system will lead to the shortening of class hours as laptops carry many materials that make it possible to cover many topics within a few minutes. The usage of school notebooks leads to long hours of class work during the day because writing notes for every class work are time-consuming.
This aspect implies that after notebook laptops are fully adopted in the education system, students may be required to attend classes for shorter hours. Also, much of the work will entail lecturing what students seem not to understand as opposed to going through entire books as it has been the case with school notebooks.
Therefore, lecturers will have simpler work than they have now when lecturing and writing notes for students at the same time. Hence, the adoption of notebook laptops will lead to students having more free time, which is good for their growth and development since they are required to learn progressively without pressure (Casas, 2010).
The adoption of notebook laptops into the education system will have adverse effects on the economy, as some people will earn less than they normally earn, especially those in the stationery business. All over the world, books and stationery are the bestselling items for academic purposes. Hence, the adoption of notebook laptops can cripple book and stationery businesses, which have been a source of income to millions of people across the world.
This aspect implies that some people can lose their jobs. Unfortunately, such people are stakeholders in the education system as they are parents to some children, and thus, the education system may be affected indirectly.
This observation also implies that the adoption of notebook laptops into the education system is likely to cause some economic problems, which may directly affect the students in terms of their backgrounds, hence their performance in class. Also, notebook laptops will lead to the loss of jobs for millions of teachers in the education system, as the new system will require a few teachers to teach many students at the same time.
In the current situation where school notebooks are used, many teachers are required due to the time needed to complete the curriculum where students are required to study from textbooks as they write notes on their notebooks. In the case of notebook laptops, there will be softcopy textbooks from which students will study as they make softcopy notes from the same end.
Hence, they will require fewer teachers to guide them through the learning system. This assertion implies that students will be left to study on their own for sufficient time, which is not an ideal move for young students who are not used to learning on their own.
Hence, the adoption of notebook laptops will bring in joblessness in the education system, coupled with less attention to young students who need guidance from teachers to get used to the education system. On the other hand, school notebooks are effective for young students and teachers as both are required to contribute equally to the benefit of each party.
Waste materials from notebook laptops have adverse effects on the environment, as they demand a complex process that is capable of recycling electronic wastes. On the other hand, school notebooks are more environment-friendly as compared to their counterparts for they are recyclable and they decompose easily when properly disposed of.
Currently, there is an outstanding lack of proper means of disposing of electronic materials, and thus the introduction of laptop notebooks implies an escalation of the problem of e-waste disposal, hence environmental pollution.
Notably, young children contribute the largest percentage of electronic waste in any given country due to their great carelessness and zeal to get into contact with some devices. Hence, the world will be at risk of increased electronic waste, given that only a few countries are in a position to manage such waste in an environment-friendly manner.
However, various advantages are associated with notebook laptops, which include the adoption of modern technology in the education system for easy learning by the students and the exposure of young students to digital technology. Contemporarily, the world is shifting to the digital age where most innovations will be in information technology, and thus, the world needs to prepare young minds to face future challenges.
On the other hand, school notebooks have various advantages, which include improvement of writing skills coupled with the view that a young student gets much attention from the teacher, which helps the student to be used to the education system more effectively.
Looking into the above major advantages, notebook laptops seem to be adopted into the education system only for economic benefits of a country but ignoring the welfare of a young student who needs to acquire necessary skills and attention from teachers.
The young minds of such students will be deterred by the adoption of laptop notebooks. Hence, notebook laptops can be adopted into the education system for the use by students, if only they will not replace school notebooks entirely.
Conclusion
Notebook laptops are good for the education system, and their adoption will be of benefit for both students and the economic development of a country. However, the adoption should be done at higher-level grades to allow students to learn basic skills trained through school notebooks.
School notebooks allow for the development of talents such as drawing skills among young students, which, when learned through laptop notebooks, may required specialized courses.
School notebooks allow for good relationships between a teacher and a student, as tutors can know when a student is having problems while using school notebooks, but laptop notebooks may deny the student such attention from the teacher. Hence, notebook laptops should not replace school notebooks.
References
Barak, M., Lipson, A., & Lerman, S. (2006). Wireless laptops as means for promoting Active learning in large lecture halls. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(2), 245–263.
Casas, M. (2010). Enhancing Student Learning in Middle School. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis
Granberg, E., & Witte, J. (2005). Teaching with laptops for the first time: lessons from a Social science classroom. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2005(101), 51–59.
Reed, R., Berque, D., & Prey, J. (2009). The Impact of Tablet PCs and Pen-based Technology on Education: Evidence and Outcomes, 2008. Chicago, IL: Purdue University Press.
Weaver, B., & Nilson, L. (2005). Laptops in class: What are they good for? What can you do with them? New Directions in Teaching and Learning, 2005(101), 3–13.
Zucker, A. (2004). Developing a research agenda for ubiquitous computing in Schools. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 30 (4), 371–386.