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Children have been using various forms of assignment notebooks ever since the early days of education, when students had to write on wax tablets, which, ironically enough, used the stylus as its writing tool. As education progressed, so too did the students' methods for keeping up with his work. First came the slate tablet, then paper and pencil, followed by special wire-bound pages that were pre-printed with a calendar of the ease, so that each student could write his assignments in and easily find when they were due. Today, the assignment notebook has evolved once more; it is now called a Personal Digital Assistant, or PDA. These modern day electronic notebooks, complete with pop-out styli, are revolutionizing education. Like any revolutionary idea, however, it has been contested by those who refuse to see the light. The PDA is the educational device that has appeared simultaneously on the required and banned school supply list. The early-adopting schools actually require their students to purchase a PDA, while a hardy group of educators still ban it from the classroom. What is the reason for this seemingly bizarre educational paradox? Why do some teacher's embrace PDAs, while others shun it? The answers are not near as complex as the media would have you believe.

Teachers are well known for developing biased ideas about emerging technology. Go to your school library, for example, and you will likely be greeted by a cross librarian who sternly looks over your shoulder at anything you try to do on a PC. The reason for this apparent technological phobia is a false fear, created by the idea that the computer could replace the librarian, and indeed, the teacher. This fear is unjustified; there will always be a need for human-based guidance, despite the growing anticipation of a computer that will take the place of instructors. This is just one of many assumptions that teacher's make about the personal digital assistants. They fear that the device could somehow take away from part of their task; in reality, it will, if used correctly, make their job much easier, and thus will allow them to lead more happy lives. The PDA is not here to replace teachers; it is here to supplement them, to allow them to concentrate more on teaching, and less on telling people when something is going to be taught.

Another concern about PDAs is that they will be stolen, and thus will continue to degrade America's already immoral students. This concern may bear some truth; PDAs are oftentimes the subject of personal jealousy, and they have, historically, been stolen from many corporations. However, the solution to this problem is quite simple; just provide a PDA to every student. If every student has such a device, adolescents will be less likely to covet it; everyone will have one anyway, so why should a person waste time trying to get another one? Oh, stealing will still be present, just as people sometimes steal textbooks and other school supplies. However, the problem should be contained to within a reasonable amount; there will always be some crime in this world, and it can never truly be wiped out. So, the simple solution is to provide every student with one. However, there is a problem with this: cost. Typical PDAs range from one hundred to one thousand dollars a piece; schools today have over 1000 people or more in them. How can a school afford to provide this item to its students? This may seem like an unsolvable problem until one examines the options, that is. With government help, schools can approach manufactures and set up special pricing, so that PDAs may be had for next to nothing. Why would companies do this? Publicity and brand exposure, of course. If every student has a Compaq IPAQ PDA, then most students will eventually look at other Compaq accessories and devices. In fact, Compaq and several other computer companies already do this with full size PCs.much more expensive than their hand-held counterparts. Obviously, the problems of cost are seriously inflated; it will be expensive, but not as expensive as other technological transitions, such as implementing the internet, have been. Schools must spend money wisely.

Another phobia about PDAs is the supposed noise that they will generate in the classroom environment. This is simply untrue; obviously, these people have not researched the product. All PDAs on the market today have sound, and they ALL have volume controls. You can mute the sound completely, if necessary. I have been using various forms of electronic PDAs for the last five years, and I have had no problems keeping the sound turned off. It is quite simple to do, and anyone that does have the sound turned up can be reprimanded, if the teacher desires. Teachers forget that electronic devices have been present in schools for almost twenty years now, and a great majority of them had the capabilities to produce various beeps, whistles, and whirrs. I still don't hear the faculty complaining, do you?

The largest fear that teachers have regarding PDAs is that they will prove distracting; children will play games instead of learn. The teachers who make this claim obviously know nothing of their students, for adolescents have played electronic games in class for years, using programmable graphing calculators. The fact is, students will always try to do something that prevents them from learning; it may surprise you, but many students do not want to go to school. Indeed, my entire four years of high school could have been compressed into about 8 months, but instead, I had to spread out my learning, so it was quite boring at times. I can understand the desire to play games in class; I myself am guilty of such. However, overall, this is not any more a problem then it was in the past; if teachers teach there subject well, students will pay attention. If they do not, students will distract themselves.

Why should a student want a PDA anyway? Don't paper assignment notebooks do the job? Yes, they do, but not quite as efficiently. PDAs open up a new chapter for the book of organization. A teacher prepares his school calendar, complete with due dates, tasks, reminders, etc, in Microsoft Outlook. Students can synchronize their PDAs with the instructors PC. This makes calendar keeping easy; as a student goes to all of his classes, more things are added to his calendar. By the end of the first school day, he has a complete, printable calendar that reflects all assignments for all courses, in one convenient place. In turn, the student can sync his palmtop with his own home PC, thus creating a separate calendar, by which the student can manage his life. Students can also take notes with the PDA, and transfer them to their home PCs, print them, and put them in a readable, analog notebook. There are other uses for PDAs, too. On teacher in an early adopting school used the student's PDAs to teach them about sexually transmitted diseases. A simple, harmless virus was created, and placed on five PDAs. Each time the owner of one of these five PDAs sent another student a file via the PDAs infrared port, the virus was transmitted. The virus quickly spread and multiplied, infecting hundreds of PDAs a day. Soon, nearly the entire student body was infected. The exercise was an effective demonstration of the consequences of immoral sexual practices. It taught students about the dangers of STDs. There are countless unexplored, creative uses for PDAs in the classroom, just waiting for a teacher to exploit them.

Obviously, PDAs should be installed in the nation's classrooms; the positives far outweigh the negatives, and the concerns about the devices are unfounded. Perhaps, with the implementation of this new technology, we can stop focusing on how to hinder our youth, and start thinking on how to make them want to learn.