Information Society Watch

May 4, 2007, The New York Times

A decade after laptops were promoted as a means to enhance academic performance amongst students, educational institutions across the US are discovering that there has been no significant improvement and are doing away with 'one-to-one' computing. This measure by authorities comes in the wake of increasing reports of students using their laptops for hacking, downloading porn and cheating during exams. Educationists point out that while in some cases the use of laptops has resulted in higher attendance and lower dropout rates, there is nothing significant which proves that academic performance has gone up. Also, the maintenance costs involved make the entire effort an unviable proposition. However, there are those who argue that taking away these machines will compromise technology training which students would otherwise have been exposed to and would reduce the scope for creativity, research and innovation.

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