12 comments:

Logan said...

Personally, I don't bring a laptop to class. I'm a notes traditionalist. But the bans are dumb. If you're not paying attention in class, that's your own damn fault.

1:12 PM

Gregg said...

Well that's embarassing.

You publish a post about how the Hatchet didn't write about anything today, and then base your next post off something that the Hatchet covered.

So the Patriot blog is now the blog that doesn't have any news of it's own to the point that it covers a newspaper without news of it's own?

4:01 PM

W. Hunter Patterson said...

Oh Greggy, you just have it out for us today don't you?
The reason I posted this is because one of our readers has asked us to so students can have a forum to discuss the issue, something your masters at the Hatchet don't allow.

4:26 PM

Logan said...

I'll agree with Gregg to the extent that we often spend far too much time commenting on whatever the hatchet reported on this week.

I'll agree with Hunter insofar as the Hatchet is guilty of printing banal stories from time to time.

I'll disagree with Gregg by saying that the patriot has never claimed to be a newsblog, and bringing you the news is not our mission nor our desire.

I'll disagree with Hunter the Hatchet sucks, because they're actually far and above 90% of college newspapers that I've encountered. And yes, I do make it my hobby to occasionally peruse the college newspapers of other schools. Judge me accordingly.

4:32 PM

Gregg said...

I'm going to side with ol' Allen Green over on the other thread. Did the Hatchet make you feel bad when they picked up Rogers and his national blog?

I don't really see any other reason to pick THIS week's Hatchet to rail on, there's surely been worse version, say, not about the First Lady on our campus.

4:55 PM

Anonymous said...

I think laptops can't be banned because of students who can't write notes easily, or are visual learners

5:30 PM

Tessa said...

I'll agree with Logan. That saved me some time.

6:37 PM

Anonymous said...

Hey thanks for the posting the story about the laptops! I was completely outraged when I've seen already TWO hatchet articles about this and how more professors are getting in on this trend.

I'm a senior now, a double major GPA of 3.91, and I have NEVER used pen and paper in a class except Chemistry and a Calc class. How are the students letting this happen? If I were in any of these classes I would immediately report this to the department heads - people should have a choice in how they want to take notes - this isn't rocket science. If students want to be distracted, they will do that without having a laptop (most often they will just fall asleep and that to me is distracting and embarrassing). I only have one semester left but I dread any professor that is going to ask me to not bring my laptop. People learn differently and with today's progress and trends professors need to get used to the idea of laptops in classrooms and adapt accordingly. What else is next that they can ban in class? GW kids stop bickering about the Hatchet and stories of who posts what. Focus on what's going on around campus and do something about it!

Okay my rant of the night. I do have to say I appreciate this blog having the ability to make comments...the Hatchet doesn't allow you to do that and it's annoying.

What's with all this fighting...you all sound worse than high school girls haha

1:46 AM

Kat said...

I'd rather professors just publicly humiliated people who were sitting playing flash games/facebook stalking/messing around than ban laptops entirely, because they are HELLA DISTRACTING for the people sitting behind/next to you. I sat next to a dude watching "American Gangster" for an entire class, headphones snaked through his hoodie.

Basically, if you want to spend the whole class fucking around, bring a crossword because it doesn't move around or flash bright colors directly in front of my face or in my peripheral vision. Although, the biggest problem with banning laptops I think is that some kids with disabilities use them, and it's be kind of shitty to be the only kid conspicuously using one in a class they were banned in.

3:28 PM

Matt I said...

Class is like life in general- you get what you put into it. If I or anyone else wants to go to class only because the professor takes attendance, and then proceed to zone out on Sporcle or Facebook for 75 minutes, that's my problem. It only affects me. It's a choice. If you get distracted by what's on the screen, make sure not to sit next to me again.

I can understand completely why teachers hate laptop use in class- they have no idea what's on the other side of that screen and feel like they're speaking to an empty room. It's disrespectful for people not to pay attention in class, but I don't think it's the professor's place to force a college student to pay attention by banning laptops (not to mention screwing over all the people who use them legitimately.)

4:40 PM

Kat said...

"It only affects me. It's a choice. If you get distracted by what's on the screen, make sure not to sit next to me again."

Bam! You just admitted you could be negatively affecting somebody else's learning. Sit in the back, bucko, other people shouldn't have to try to find the best place to sit to not be distracted by other students.

For the record, I have been in classes where I was literally the only person not using a laptop, so it was impossible to not sit near someone playing around (I tried, oh did I try).

12:23 PM

Anonymous said...

@Kat

It's not his or any other laptop user's responsibility to care about whether or not you can learn.

Furthermore, most of the professors who seek to ban laptops want to do it because it makes them feel unappreciated and ignored, not out of deference to students who feel compelled to creep on someone's screen for 75 minutes.

No one is saying people can't be distracted by laptops. If the class is boring enough, anything can be distracting. What we're saying is that getting rid of them entirely doesn't solve the problem and actually disadvantages the kids who do better with them in the classroom. Why should we empower you at their expense?

2:09 PM