In response to your editorial “Error: Education shutdown” (March 20):
There seems to be a question of responsibility. Who is responsible for the education of the student? The student, or the institution providing it? Clearly, college students should be able to make their own decisions that will affect their future careers, but at the same time, public education institutions like IU should be active in ensuring that the tuition paid is money well spent. Although undergraduates are adults, rules and structure are still put in place to better provide their education as well as to guide them to success through graduation and their career paths that follow.
Unfortunately, undergraduates cannot be entirely relied upon to make decisions, such as not coming to class (both physically and mentally), that can have long-term consequences. With respect to laptops in the classroom, not only are they a distraction to the individual, they are a distraction to the other classmates. Here, it is the university’s responsibility to create an environment of learning for all who want it. Therefore, eliminating a distraction is a necessary action. Some students, and instructors, may legitimately find laptops beneficial for some courses. However, most students bring in laptops for the same reason they bring in newspapers – the course is not engaging. This once more emphasizes the responsibility of the university to provide an adequate education to the student. If students feel they can multi-task in the classroom, then the instructor is being inefficient.
This doesn’t imply that classes have to be like circuses or “Sesame Street” to hold attention spans of 4-year-olds. However, considering that most college courses meet two and half hours a week for 16 weeks, each class period should be so rich with information that the thought of bringing an outside distraction would be viewed as pointless. IU, as well as other public education institutions, should take more responsibility for their role in the education of their students. Students, on the other hand, should do a better job of prioritizing between education and MySpace.
Robert Ridlon
Associate instructor
