By Lydia Parker

As I began my junior year at Fordham last week, I sat through the first meetings of my classes for the semester, listening to the usual speeches regarding the syllabus, the required reading material and the prohibition or ‘strong disapproval’ of laptops in class.

With each professor announcing the ban of laptops in his or her classroom comes the explanation that we have all heard: laptops distract students and diminish their understanding of lectures. Studies that have shown a correlation between laptop use and lower comprehension and test scores are referenced, prompting us to slip our laptops back into our bags, some of us muttering in annoyance.

These laptop bans are not a new phenomenon, as I can remember several of my high school teachers referencing these same studies to justify why laptops would not be allowed in their classrooms. However, these anti-laptop policies cause a far greater range of problems for the average college student than those faced in high school

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As a junior at Fordham, I consider myself to be decently experienced with Fordham’s curriculum. Like many of my peers, my core and major classes are reading intensive, with multiple professors assigning lengthy reading assignments in the required texts to be completed for each class meeting.

However, while some professors assign readings in single or multiple required print textbooks to be purchased at the start of the semester, many professors post required readings on Blackboard or their personal websites. These professors also often require that students bring copies of these online readings to class.

However, some of the professors who require students to bring physical versions of online readings are the same professors who have banned laptops. This means that the average Fordham student may find themselves consistently printing reading assignments—a requirement that is certainly not cheap.

Students who have the ability to buy a personal printer for their dorms must bear the accompanying expenses of ink and paper, while other students trek to the library on a regular basis to spend money on the printers located there. Five cents per printed page may sound like a minimal investment, but this cost accumulates over the course of a semester of printing.

Furthermore, in this digital and environmentally conscious age, it is wasteful to require individual students to print multiple pages of text that will be used for one or two class periods before ultimately ending up in the trash at the end of the semester.

While it can be understood that many professors fear the distraction of students with laptops as it is easy to pull up social media, online shopping or games during class, the ban of laptops in class puts many students at a disadvantage.

On the other hand, I admit that it is a waste of a professor’s time and effort to lecture to students who are not paying attention to his or her words.
So, what are possible solutions to this problem that affects both students and professors?

A class that I took during my sophomore year utilized a system that I think should be more widely practiced. In this course, there would be a period of class time during which students were allowed to use their laptops to access the readings due that day. At this time, students discussed the readings, asked pertinent questions and summarized key concepts and passages from the readings.

After this period of class time, laptops would be put away, and my professor would lecture, on further concepts and subject matter based off the required reading, while we took notes by hand in our notebooks. This system of minimal laptop use allowed students to access required readings during class time without the expense or wastefulness of printing.

Beyond the issue of printing, there are many students who struggle to take meaningful or thorough notes by hand, especially during classes in which a professor lectures information-heavy content at a fast pace.

There are few things more frustrating for a student than attempting to review notes in preparation for an exam or paper and being unable to make sense of messy, rushed handwritten notes.

Ultimately, it seems likely that the professors in question will win the debate regarding laptops during lectures, as it is undeniable that there are students who abuse laptop privileges and distract themselves and others during class.

However, all-or-nothing policies regarding laptops hurt the students at Fordham in other ways. Thus, the following conclusion is that professors should be more conscious of the money and time students are wasting by bringing physical copies of required texts to class and should perhaps consider revising their classroom policies to reflect the needs of their students.

Lydia Parker, FCRH ’20, is an English major from Beverly, Massachusetts.