Issuing Laptops Essay, Research Paper

Anyone can take a look at the world today and see that computers have a major role in keeping everything in order. Some people find it hard to go just one day without being able to use their computer. I sometimes find myself to be one of these people. One way that I propose to help introduce young adults into this ?computer age? is to have colleges issue laptops to entering students. With the United States being one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, there is no reason why colleges should not be issuing laptops to entering students. The problem with most young adults today is that they are not as computer literate as they should be. Getting more students involved with computers would better prepare them for the more technically advanced world they will soon be entering into after college.

One of the main problems is that young adults do not get enough ?hands on? experience with computers, as they should, to better their knowledge on how to use them. Being able to use them everyday in class and out of class would increase their computer knowledge greatly; and it would help them to get better jobs when they get out of college. It makes it easier to keep track of everything, and you do not have to worry about forgetting your homework or ?the dog eating it.? As soon as you are finished typing your assignment on the computer, you simply e-mail it or send it through the campus network to the teacher?s laptop. Once the teacher is finished grading it, he would simply send you an e-mail telling you what you missed and your grade for that assignment. This also makes it easier for the teacher to keep in contact with the student to let them know how they are doing in class or things that they might want to improve upon to do better in that class. In a recent survey, it was seen that a majority of the people polled agreed that colleges should issue laptops to entering students (Chart 1).

Solution

A solution to the problem of getting colleges to issue laptops to students is to have the government use federal funds to help pay for the laptops that are to be distributed to the entering students. Students will, of course, still have to pay for some of the costs of the laptops. Since colleges will be buying so many laptops, they will only be paying about the cost price of each laptop. Then the government will provide some funding to go toward the costs of the laptops. The student will probably end up paying around $250 to $300 for his or her own laptop. This will be added to the cost of tuition. By this time, the cost of tuition will be lowered to the extent that the extra cost of that laptop will not make much of a difference. The cost of the laptop, by this time, will be much lower since the cost of making them will have gone down. Private funding will also be an option that will most likely be used by private colleges.

Justification

Even though it is costly to provide this many laptops, there are many benefits that make it worth the while. One benefit would be that the textbooks, for each individual class, would be on a compact disc. So, instead of paying sixty-five dollars for a new book, you could just pay fifteen to twenty dollars for a cd. With the book being on a cd, it is much easier to find specific items that you might be looking for in the book. It could also allow the user to be more interactive with the material in that particular class. Since it does not take long for a computer to be considered ?out-of-date,? you would be able to upgrade your laptop every other year. You would simply pay a small amount after you get the trade-in value of your current laptop. Another benefit of the laptops would be that the entire university would be networked together. You can access the library from anywhere on campus, or get information from another student?s computer whenever you need to. When people were polled on whether or not they agreed with ?Colleges should have it to where a book that you need for a certain course is on a compact disk (cd)? it can be seen that a majority agreed with the statement (Chart 2).

Conclusion

When everyone in college has a laptop and all of their class books are on individual cds, life will be much easier. Everyone will know how to work a computer and know how it works. Then after a long day of classes, you go back to your dorm, type up your homework, and then e-mail it to your teacher. Finally, you hook your computer to the network, which is running off of a T3 line, and play a nice multi-player game of Half-Life?. It may even turn out to be the case where no one has to go to classes anymore. Maybe all of the classes will be teleconferences using the laptops.