Tech policy needs blocking

A few school districts in Texas are about to implement new technology-savvy policies, according to an article by The Associated Press.

It’s called Bring Your Own Technology.

BYOT will allow students the use of smart phones, laptops, iPads and anything else that will “help” with their learning experience.

Learning how to use this technology won’t be a distraction but more of a way to prepare students for devices they may have to use in future career fields, some educators argue.

Um, let’s look at that sentence again. The key word there is distraction.

Duh. When won’t it be a distraction?

Correction, it won’t be any more of a distraction than it is for college students who currently use all of these in the classroom if the high schoolers are self-disciplined and focused on the subject matter.

If not, then technology as a distraction will always be an issue.

There are ways around this, of course. If school districts decide to implement this change, they should do what my high school did to help students stay focused on their education — implement a firewall that blocks students from accessing social media networks or other distracting websites during class time.

This will help students stick to using the technology the way they’re supposed to in school — for research purposes.

As far as learning for a future career goes, high school students don’t necessarily know what they want to be when they grow up. And not even we college students are fully set on where we’d like to go in life.

Learning how to operate the new technological advances that come out every few weeks is something students in general can do on their own time. High school students aren’t ready for BYOT.

Don’t forget the expense of new technology. Some students may not be able to afford it. I remember what I was like in high school. If it wasn’t one distraction, it was another.

BYOT is a waste of time, energy and money for students and teachers.

High school students should be focused on what a teacher is saying, not what a computer is saying.

Don’t add to the distractions.