The iPod's Impact on Schools

I was never the best student back when I was in school. I was very lazy, didn't do my work, didn't listen in class and just didn't really care about school. Often I would do things in class that we were not supposed to do. A lot of the time I would be drawing when we were supposed to be writing. That one was easy to fake. Other times I would sneak a magazine or comic book into class and read it.

My favorite time of the year though was the winter. During the winter I would wear a large coat to class. The coat wasn't because I was cold because I actually love the cold weather. The coat was to hide my Walkman. Of course you can't get away with listening to music in class with those big headphones so I also brought ear buds. I would then run one of the ear buds up the arm of my coat and slip it out my sleeve and hold the ear bud in the palm of my hand. Then I would take my favorite position, resting my head on my hand. My teacher thought I was just resting my head, little did she know I was actually listening to music in class.

Unfortunately kids are no different today. Kids still sneak music into school except we are way past walkmans now they now use iPods. Having a Walkman and an iPod aren't exactly the same though. A Walkman is useful only for music. An iPod on the other hand can store files.

Many schools across the country have reported children cheating via the iPod and many have taken steps to eliminate iPod use in their schools. One way a student might cheat is use their computers to create audio files in which they read their important notes. Then the student will upload the file to their iPod, take it to school and then just like me years ago, they will slide an ear bud up their sleeve and listen to the answers during a test. Others will insert the answers in the lyrics text file you can add to any song on your iPod and then try and sneak a peak at it when the teacher isn't looking. I have to admit. Kids are lazy, kids are whiney, kids are annoying but kids are also resourceful. Unfortunately this use of the iPod has lead to many counties across the country banning iPods from school.

However, there are others that have gone in the total opposite direction. I first started school in an era when schools were first embracing computers. My older brothers never had computers in school, my sister maybe had a keyboarding class but by the time I had finished high school I had taken two keyboarding classes, a web design class and two computer programming classes. Obviously cheating with a computer was not really a problem like iPods because you can't hide a computer in your sleeve but schools did embrace the computer, realizing it could be a great tool. Now some schools are embracing iPods too.

Duke University is one school in particular embracing the iPod. This fall Duke University will be giving each of its 1,650 new freshmen a free iPod. The iPod is not just a gift to the students but a tool to help new students. The iPod will come with orientation information, a calendar and some Duke fight songs. Also during the year students will be able to store other helpful materials. Students will be able to download course material to their iPod. Did you miss a class? No problem, download your teacher's lecture from that day. Are you taking a foreign language? Now you can learn French while doing things around the house with audio foreign language lessons. Do you have a book to read for class but you're just a really slow reader? No problem, download the audio book.

I hope people will take notice of Duke University and follow in their footsteps. Schools should definitely embrace the technology we have at our fingertips, not ban it. I realize allowing iPods in class mean that people will cheat but let's face it, people will always find a way to cheat. I'm not saying it's okay to cheat or that we shouldn't care about cheating. All I'm saying is just because a few kids are lazy and want to cheat doesn't mean we should take a way a great learning opportunity from the rest of the students.