A Vote Against Computers.

Essay by monika1College, UndergraduateF, January 2006

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I was excited when my English instructor announced that computers would be a major part of our writing course. Teacher also said that half of the classes will be held in the computer lab and all required work will be done on the computer. I was thrilled to see the computer lab. I thought to myself excitedly that we are living in the middle of the computer revolution, and here is my chance to get on board. But a week later, I have had second thoughts. Now, I believe that using computers in the writing class is a bad idea. The computer does not help students to plan a paper, it requires too much time and trouble to use, and it can change instructor from a teacher to a technician.

To begin with, the computers do not help students to write a paper. When students start an essay, they like to use a yellow, blue or white pad and scribble out their ideas.

Some students may write a couple of sentences, scratch them out, and then write a few more. They may make a couple of rough outlines, and then cross out parts of them, and then combine those leftover parts to make a third outline. Some students may go back to some idea rejected at first and write another idea in the margin. Students may circle something from one part of the page and join it with something on another part. At any one time, students want to see everything whatever they are doing in front of them. With a computer students can not do that. If students deleted something, they can not look back it later. If students write too much, they have to scroll back and forth, since not everything can fit on the screen at once.