IPods Should be Allowed in School
Imagine a world where you can use your iPod freely in school. A student listens to her iPod and focus hard while doing her work. Another student is looking up information on the internet using his iPod. It sounds like a perfect setting for a teenager’s generation. But students can’t do this because the use of iPods is banned in school.
Districts do not indeed see the positives of iPods in school, but in fact, there are a few. There are various benefits to using iPods in school: they can be used for educational purposes and to help students relax and focus. The educational uses of an iPod are numerous. The iPod has educational apps such as books to read, a dictionary to look up words, a calculator to use for math, and a calendar to record due dates. Students can access news-related topics in class and they have access to educational games. “Pedro Noguera, a sociology professor at New York University who studies urban schools, said that more districts were using new technologies like iPods to connect with students.
For instance he said teachers have designed video games around history lessons and assigned students to re-enact novels and plays on YouTube”(Noguera). Also iPods help English language learners acquire English faster. ‘”A lot of our bilingual kids are very shy and they feel like outsiders,’ said Ms. Poli, whose parents immigrated from Ecuador. ‘You have kids who have never said a word of English, and now they’re singing Black Eyed Peas. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it!”‘ (Poli 2).
The IPods helped these students learn English better and connect with their fellow classmates. IPods make life easier for teachers. When the teacher is teaching a lesson, the students can record it on their iPod. If the students want to hear it again, they can just play it and the teacher doesn’t have to say it again. Recording the lesson makes life better for students too.
They can listen to the recorded lessons before class, and absent students can gain access to missed lessons. IPods help students relax and focus. Students calm down when listening to music. The iPods give students a way to spend their free time in school. They can use their iPods during lunch and study hall.
Students are calmer and don’t get in as much trouble when iPods are around. Students work better while listening to music. “Surveys show that athletes and students who do their homework or study, work better while listening to music. A survey done in Kentucky showed that 85% of teachers agreed that music could help some students focus and do better on class work assignments” (“iPods And Music Help Students Focus”). Music focuses students and improves their behavior.
There have been many decreases in suspensions at schools that allow iPods in school compared to schools that don’t allow iPods in school (?). Studies have shown that some students, especially right-brained students, perform better on tasks when they have been allowed to listen to music. The support is overwhelming. Students should be allowed to use iPods in school. The educational apps or uses of iPods in school can aid both teachers and students.
IPods also help students relax and focus. This is a world where students are supposed to use technology. It is time for the districts to realize that iPods are very useful recourses.
