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It’s been a few years (well, a lot of them, truth be told) since this old fellow has seen the inside of a classroom so I can’t claim to be an expert in the field of education.
But I do have a bit of experience with technology and I’ve seen first-hand how its use can affect (and in some cases alter) both the learning process and emotional growth of children.
With that in mind, I have a few ‘back to school’ recommendations for students.
As you read the following, please keep in mind that I’m not trying to take the place of your parents or your teachers. Please take this as nothing more than friendly advice…
1 – Technology is a tool, not a substitute for actual research and schoolwork.
Given the vast amount of information that’s available online these days, it only makes sense to use your computer, phone or tablet for research purposes. But be careful about how you do that…
Don’t just copy and paste the info you find into a homework assignment or term paper and then forget about it. Take time to study it and learn what you can from it.
It’s certainly true that you’ll never remember every detail about every topic you study, nor should you be expected to. But if you actually study the information you’ll remember the basics well enough to know how (and where) to learn more about those topics should the need to do so ever arise.
2 – Don’t depend on AI to help you coast through the school year.
AI tools such as ChatGPT make it easy to fake one’s way through the completion of assignments, but they cannot make you learn the things you need to learn in order to succeed in life and your chosen profession.
Using an AI chatbot to “write” a term paper is no better than paying a friend to write it for you. Yes, you might get an A on the paper, but you won’t learn a thing.
And guess what? There’s no guarantee that an AI-generated paper will get you a good grade in the first place. If you’ve ever read any AI-generated writing you could probably tell that it was written by a machine instead of a human. Well, your teachers will be able to tell that it was written by a machine as well.
And here’s something else to keep in mind: AI-generated writings are notorious for containing information that’s incomplete, misleading and just plain wrong.
3 – Technology is a tool, not a substitute for friends and outside activities.
While you’re in school you’ll spend time interacting with your teachers and the other students, which is all well and good. But what about after school?
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of spending all of your at-home hours in your bedroom playing video games, listening to music or perusing social media.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with those activities, I strongly recommend that you also make time for activities that don’t involve technology.
There are many such activities available, such as participating in a sport, joining a club or simply joining friends at the local pool, your favorite fishing hole or even the Dairy Queen.
In a nutshell, in order to develop into a functioning, successful adult, you’ll need to accumulate life experiences that you’ll never be able to get from technology alone.
4 – Don’t pressure your parents to spend a ton of money on a school laptop.
Now that we have all the above out of the way, it’s important to understand that you will of course have to use a computer for at least some of your schoolwork.
Some schools supply the machines for their students, but many don’t. If your school requires you to supply your own, choose a basic laptop that has just enough power, RAM and SSD storage to get you through the next year or two.
By that time technology will have evolved and your courses of study will have become more advanced, likely prompting the need to upgrade to another, more capable machine that’s better equipped to handle the tasks before you at that time.
For now, save the cash that you (or your parents) would have to lay out for a top-of-the-line laptop for when you’ll really need it.
I believe the budget laptop I recommend here would be a great option for the vast majority of students, but there are plenty of others available as well.
The bottom line…
As a student, technology can be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending entirely on how you use it. Allow it to be your assistant, not your stand-in.
Do the work yourself so you can ultimately enjoy the benefits you’ll derive from it. Technology can help you excel in your schoolwork, but it can’t help you excel in life. That will depend on what’s inside your brain, not what’s inside your gadgets.
And finally, last but not least, spend your school years enjoying the life of a student. Learn all you can, but have fun too.
This is the time of your life when you’ll gain lifelong friends and valuable life experiences. Don’t waste it.