> Dear Friend,

> It is amazing to think about how much technology has progressed, especially when one looks at the relative history of human kind. A conservative estimation of the beginnings of homo sapien sapeins would go back around 15,000 years ago. Civilizations began growing in complexity around 5,000 years ago. Two or three thousand years ago our written history began. Jumping up to the 1600šs we see the age of exploration. And finally, the late 1800šs and early 1900šs brought the age of industrialization. Technology progressed enough in the 60šs to get to the moon. The 70šs brought more progress, like digital watches, and the 80šs brought home computers into the realm of reality. Then we continued our sprint in the 90šs. Computers and technology have continued to explode and expand and the internet is irreversibly a force to reckon with.

> Herešs my point: If you put the development of the personal computer into perspective, one could see that technology isnšt finished progressing. New advancements and changes are still on the horizon. It would be prudent to wait a few more years before investing in computers for our students. The consequence of early investment may parallel the purchase of a beta audio video player by some in the early 80šs.

Anyone who believes in laptops because they "are so modern" will want to throw them in the landfill and replace them in a couple of years because they "are out of date". Neither will be good reasoning. Computers (including laptops) should be used in school if and where they are demonstrably the most effective (and cost-effective) solutions.
If and where they are not... we whould look for better alternatives (which may even include the status quo).