We have all heard it. Teachers everywhere complain because school districts want them to use more technology. Teachers complain because they only have one computer in the room. How can they use more technology when everyone doesn’t have a computer to use?

School districts return the facts that they can’t get a computer for every student. Especially in these days of budget cutbacks, there is no funding to supply every student with a computer.

But, many times we forget. Almost every student in our classroom already has a computer. No, I understand that a lot of them will tell you “We don’t have internet at home”. But, I would say that almost every single one of them have a computer in their backpack, pocket, desk, somewhere. They are just hiding them from us.

Why are they hiding them? They have to hide them because the school bans computers. What?? Yes, that’s what I said. The very school that complains of not having enough money to supply every child with a computer bans computers.

I found a very interesing read this morning from Blue Skunk Blog about how using the same logic for banning cellphones, PDAs, etc, we would also have to ban pencils.

What do you think? Instead of thinking of how to ban these devices and keep them banned, maybe we should be brainstorming ways to make sure they are used for good?