SAS Pudong Middle School

This article is cross posted to the Pudong Middle School Webletter Blog to be released next week. Thank you to our student writers for their contribution!

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Authors:

Willy

Max

There are multiple advantages to having MacBooks as an everyday tool for students at SAS from 6^th Grade and up. There are numerous examples of MacBooks improving the education of students throughout international schools in the world. In fact, I have personal experiences in the matter, as I attended a school last year where we had the MacBooks 24/7. MacBooks fully help to expand and simplify the learning process at schools, providing an environment and user friendly interface/ learning experience.

One of the biggest advantages is a clean, easy to use system. It fully accelerates and enhances the learning experience by providing numerous possible resources that are easy to reach, and more than adequate for the needs of a student at SAS. They also aren’t easily infected by viruses and spyware, as most of these harmful programs aren’t generally directed for Mac use. On the other hand, Windows would be substantially affected by malicious software unless you have wasted time and hard drive space to install and maintain the use of an antivirus program in addition to spyware and other protective services. MacBooks eliminate the need to waste numerous megabytes on protection software with both an enhanced and built-in protection system, and also a system which is very difficult to access through hacking and other methods of remote entry that are engineered with a malicious intent.

MacBooks are also simply better-looking, faster, and have a smoother interface, which far exceeds the feeble attempts at an operating system made by PC companies. Using such applications as Time Machine, iWork 08, Microsoft Office for Mac, Spaces, Exposé, Docks, and other programs, Mac makes it easy to organize your work and provides better features for creating simple, clean, presentations. With hard drives all storing up to 250 GB and more than 2 GB of RAM, any MacBook provides plenty of space to keep your work and great processing speed.

Many of you who read this essay may be wondering about one slight problem: The cost. A PC definitely costs less, but think of all the accessories and software that you’ll need. Antivirus, setting up wireless internet, buying software such as Photoshop and other needless expensive products all make up for the money it takes to buy a Mac, which has all that and more built in to begin with.

So what’s the point of this essay? We’ve outlined why a Mac is far superior to Windows, Linux, or Ubuntu, but what does that have to do with the advantages of using MacBooks at school? Through personal experience as a trailblazer of MacBook use for education, numerous advantages have been revealed. Not only do you have to buy and carry an USB wherever you go, but there isn’t as big of a risk in the case of data loss. When using an USB, you can’t guarantee that all the data will be safe. Portable flash disks just aren’t as reliable as a hard drive tucked safely into a Macbook. Also, if a teacher is afraid that students are playing games in class, there is a special feature called “Remote Desktop” that allows certain people to access the screens and systems of students who are connected to the server.

Dell’s are prehistoric, like the dinosaurs who once roamed the earth. Guess what happened to them? They were a failure, and were driven to extinction. A rumor has been going around that next year students will receive a laptop computer to enhance the learning process. After listening to our argument and our obvious criticisms on Dell’s, we hope that you will agree with us in that Macintosh is the way to go. Windows, make way. The age of Apple has arrived.

Part II: Exclusive Interviews with Dr. Roukema and Mr. Torris

We heard from various rumors around school that some students in the Middle School may receive laptops in the near future. We sat down with two experts within the very legions of our school, Dr. Roukema and Mr. Torris. Surprisingly, both of them had very similar views on our topic.

Dr. Roukema: "Technology enhanced students make educational sense."

Mr. Torris: "The best way to learn is to create.

Tags: student writers, technology

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