The next big thing for the students of New Providence High School is the arrival of the long awaited  iPads.  Each student from ninth to eleventh grade received an iPad that they will keep until graduation.  In theory, these iPads will replace the troublesome laptops and make classes more interactive and efficient.  The cons of the iPads may prove to outweigh the pros as the iPads will tempt students to play games and message friends rather than take part in class.

These iPads can easily become a distraction.  The fact that students can easily download games onto their iPads cannot be ignored.  Whenever the teacher is speaking at the front of the class or preoccupied in some other way, students can pretend to take notes or do work while really playing games on their iPad.  Students will pay more attention to their games than to their teacher.  This will be especially tempting for students who have difficulty staying focused in class.  They will only be learning a fraction of what they should be learning.

Another way the iPads will prove distracting will be that students will also use them to chat with or message their fellow students.  Instead of doing whatever class work they are needed to do, they will just use their iPads as a means to talk and gossip with their friends.  Some students will spend more time messaging their friends than they will doing work.  There is also the possibility that the iPads and Google accounts may be used to bully some students, especially since everyone can easily know what everyone else’s Google account address is.  Although the communication possibilities of the iPads may prove to be useful, they may also prove to be a distraction or a means of bullying.

Finally, there is the possibility that iPads will be lost, broken, or stolen.  It can’t be ignored that something along those lines will happen repeatedly.  Students will forget where they placed their iPads, drop and break their iPads, or someone may have the urge to claim another’s iPad as their own.  It could to be quite costly to both families and the school to replace iPads, even with insurance.  If enough iPads are lost, the cost of replacing them will surpass any benefits they may have offered.  No matter how careful students are with these iPads many will eventually need to be replaced.

These iPads may seem like a great tool to use in class, but they actually have many problems that outweigh their benefits.  The iPads are a toy, just as much as a tool, that will tempt and distract students with many games and means of messaging.  Only time will tell whether or not the iPad initiative helps students, but in the eyes of this reporter it won’t.