Rounds Budget Message

The governor issued his budget message yesterday.  The Aberdeen American News reports on it here.  I find much in this message to applaud, including a proposal by the governor to increase teacher salary in the state.  I find one proposal highly objectionable, and I hope the legislature puts a stop to it.  I refer to the governor's proposal to provide funds so schools can buy or lease laptop computers for students.  I cannot stress enough what a waste of money this is.  Many months ago I linked to this article outlining the relationship between technology in the classroom and educational performance.  I ask members of the State Legislature and the Governor's staff to read this article.  In short, the findings show that giving laptop computers to students has either no effect or, if anything, a negative effect on student performance.  We have perfectly good technology already available.  It's called books.  And students need to learn to use them.  Our students are not suffering from a lack of technology.  They suffer from a lack of basic language skills. A colleague in English once told me that the vocabulary of today's students is half of what it was a generation ago.  In other words we are losing the English language.  The problem is not that students don't know how to use laptops; it's that they don't know how to read books.  I beg those involved in state government to oppose this proposal.  The $13 million the governor proposes spending on laptops should be used to even further increase spending on teacher salaries or (here selfishness intrudes) to give more generous scholarships to our students who wish to attend universities in the state.