Millions of kids attending schools today lug around backpacks with heavy and thick textbooks. If only they knew that they could make their loads a lot lighter. Schools could help their students with this by investing in iPads. I think that teachers and staff of schools should consider purchasing them for many reasons.

One of the main reasons that I think schools should convert to iPads is that they can function as textbooks. Although iPads cost as much as $750 a piece, they would compensate for the money that would be spent on textbooks throughout the school years. The total cost of textbooks would add up to much more than the $750 cost of one iPad. The iPad also provides relief from the strain of heavy textbooks. The superintendent of Roslyn schools, Daniel Brenner, said that iPads would reduce printing and textbook costs. He estimated the total savings to be $7,200 per year. The textbooks on the iPad would allow students to highlight text, take notes in the margins, and even have access to a dictionary. An iPad is clearly a better way to read and understand the textbooks that students are required to have.

Another reason iPads should be used in schools is that they allow students to be more accessible to teachers. Larry Reiff, an English teach at Roslyn, said, “It allows us to extend the classroom beyond these four walls.” Teachers would be able to post everything online and know that students could access it. Assignments and posts by teachers would also be easier for students to access. According the New York Times, the average child from eight to eighteen years old spends more than seven and a half hours on the internet per day. By converting everything to the internet or technology, students are more likely to get it done without any excuses. They are more likely to check and see what their homework is for the night. Teenagers also like to use many applications on their devices. There are apps for almost anything that a teacher would need in their classroom to convey what they were trying to teach. Teaching and learning would be easy and efficient for students and teachers.

Finally, students wouldn’t have to worry about losing or forgetting their homework. I know that most people love technology and are almost always on it. No matter what, students would use their iPads when they got home. It would be nearly impossible to forget to do their homework. There are many apps that students could use to type papers and do their assignments on. Even if a student didn’t get home until later, they could do their homework no matter where they were going. The portability of an iPad would allow students to take it anywhere with them. Having the chance to do homework while on-the-go would lessen the burden when a student got home. They would be able to get more sleep and be more awake and ready to learn the next day. It would also be very easy to have notes from class. There is a notes app that is already built in to the iPad. Different notes from the different classes would be organized and all in one place. Students wouldn’t have to carry around notebooks or worry about losing loose sheets of notes. If someone was absent, they could just have a classmate send them the notes that they missed. Being absent wouldn’t be a problem because students could access everything online. They could even have a friend video their classes. School work would be made a lot easier, and notes would be a lot more accessible to students. Having iPads would also help with studying notes. There are many flashcard applications that would aid in studying for vocabulary. I feel that having these features would help students do very well in their classes, and it would ensure that they could keep good grades.

All around, schools investing in iPads would make classes easier to follow. It would make life easier for both students and teachers. They are a smart investment, and they would save time and money in the long run. In my opinion, this technology is what our generation needs in their schools. I don’t see how anyone could not take advantage of the opportunity to better students’ educational experience in their classrooms and in their homes.