My MacBook has been an invaluable educational asset. I do research on it, use it to communicate, write my columns on it and play games on it during class. I don’t know where I’d be without my laptop, but I do know I wouldn’t be nearly as good at Tetris.
However, while I strongly recommend a MacBook to any college student who likes stylish design and cute names for applications, several universities have gone even further. The journalism departments at Eastern Illinois University and Missouri University, along with the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Development, have begun requiring incoming freshmen to purchase MacBooks or, in the case of the University of Missouri, either an iPod Touch or an iPhone. These schools argue that students who own personal computers have easier access to information, that proficiency with newer computer software is essential in the working world, and that as so many students already own their own computers, the new policy will affect relatively few people.
This is all well and good. Schools are modernizing to keep up with the information age, which means they’re attempting to reconfigure their teaching to 21st-century standards to give students as much bang for their educational buck as possible. These schools likely have all the best intentions in requiring their students to buy laptops.
But seriously, University of Missouri – iPhones?
In response to research suggesting students are more successful if they can listen to a lecture multiple times, MU has begun digitally recording lectures and posting them on iTunes U, where students can download lectures about journalistic ethics free of charge and listen to them over and over again to their heart’s content. Brian Brooks, associate dean of MU’s journalism school, pointed out that the requirement will not be enforced – if they choose, students can simply listen to the lectures on their computers. The only reason the school will require students to buy iPhones is so they will be included in their financial need estimate for loan purposes. However, if students can just as easily download and listen to lectures on their computers in the first place, why is MU even bothering to tell incoming freshmen to spend an additional $229 to buy an iPod Touch from the bookstore?
EIU issued a statement on its laptop requirement, saying the university is merely “attempting to assist students in getting the computer that best serves their academic and professional needs.” Requiring students to buy a laptop bundle that runs between $1,900 and $2,700 (which includes the $160 discount the school provides) does little to “assist” them in getting the computer that they need. If I were to point a gun at an old lady and force her to cross the street, I wouldn’t be helping her, would I? I certainly wouldn’t get a merit badge. If that old lady wanted to cross the street, she’d cross it; if the students wanted and could afford the computer that best served their academic and professional needs, they’d have bought it already. Requiring students to buy a computer effectively targets the students who can’t afford one, and EIU’s statement is vague as to how much financial aid will be available for these purchases, saying “(An educational expense) budget increase does not necessarily result in funds to cover the cost.”
College students should definitely be technologically prepared for their educations, which in nearly every case means owning their own laptops. However, this is simply not possible for all students. I know a few people who have made their way through college using library computers or outdated desktops at home for lack of funds – requiring them to buy laptops might make their education somewhat easier but it would also make the payment portion much harder. I also know students who prefer Windows over Apple operating systems – so long as they’re taking care of software compatibility issues on their own, why force them to change?
Students should not be required to drop hundreds to thousands on new technology on top of the tens of thousands they’re already paying in tuition and fees. If they can afford a laptop, they’ll buy it. If not, they’ll make do one way or another. Forcing students to buy a MacBook is only helping Steve Jobs.
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