The iPad can be a student’s most powerful tool, but can also be one’s biggest enemy. It can make a student more efficient and organized, but can also distract and flat out break. Let Patrick and Petey explain the positives and negatives of the Senior iPads, then you can decide for yourselves if these tablets are good or bad.

PATRICK’S POSITIVES

1. Easy Note-Taking

The app store for an iPad has a multitude of great applications that make taking notes easy. Apps like Evernote or Notability allow for clear, organized notes and notebooks: a major plus for those who are disorganized or have messy handwriting. Digital note-taking has some major advantages over paper and pen notes, thanks to the ability to use spell check, or to easily correct, delete and change notes. Students don’t have to worry about forgetting their notebook either, as many note-taking apps save everything to the cloud, making the student’s notebooks accessible from any computer, phone, or tablet with an internet connection.

2. The Multitude of Information

The iPad can hold an entire library of information in a package similar in size to a spiral notebook. iPads are the happy medium between a smartphone and a computer; it has the speed and accessibility of a phone while maintaining the power of a desktop computer. iPads put the power of the internet at the fingers of a student, and with various digital textbooks and ebooks available, the amount of information the iPad can hold is limitless.

3. Teaches Responsibility

An iPad is important because it teaches the student responsibility in numerous ways. It requires a tremendous amount of responsibility to not break, lose, or allow your iPad to be stolen. Furthermore, iPads teach responsibility in the classroom. With an iPad, the student has the option to go on social media, play games, or browse the web, instead of doing their school work. This helps students learn to be responsible and do their work: an important life skill.

PETEY’S NEGATIVES

1. They Are a Distraction

It doesn’t matter if you’re the best student in the world, having that iPad is a distraction. Teachers allow it in class, so unlike your cell phone, you can have it out at all times. You can pretend to be taking notes when in reality you’re playing Plants vs. Zombies 2. It’s just another distraction that’s incredibly easy to access.

2. They Can Break

Even though those bulky cases could probably stop a bullet, iPad screens are made of glass which is very easy to break. Thankfully, if your screen is cracked or the iPad just doesn’t work anymore, you paid $20 for insurance. If you break your second one or it gets stolen, you’ll have to fork over quite a bit of cash to get a new one.

3. The Wi-Fi Problems

If you’ve noticed the Wi-Fi failing or just going at a snail’s pace, then Dave Arre might have your answer. “The Wi-Fi was set up for coverage so they had enough access points to provide Wi-Fi to a certain area, but not necessarily to have 30 students with one or two devices a piece and four classrooms right around that access point,” Dave declares. “That’s an issue that going forward will get worse.”

So, what say you? Are you for or against these iPads?