Chromebooks: Love them or hate them, they are nothing less than a necessity for day to day life at WHS. I am able to do nearly all of my assignments for almost all classes on Chromebooks. Students seem to enjoy the convenience of Chromebooks. That being said, why are all of the faculty members not on the same page?

Every student is strongly encouraged to change with the times: checking emails, enrolling in Google Classroom, using the disaster that was “FlexiSched,” and the new program, “MyFlexLearning.” However, every teacher is not required to use Google Classroom, or any of the various online programs that students are encouraged to use for educational purposes. Picture this: A student comes home from a long day at school during which they were told that they have two quizzes the next day, and assigned an hour of homework for each of their classes. When they are studying, they have a question about a section on the quiz, so they check Google Classroom to see if the teacher posted any announcements about the quiz. However, the teacher does not use Google Classroom, because they prefer to use paper for everything… The student’s next idea: email the teacher. However, unfortunately, guess what? That particular teacher does not check their email after school.

There is no reason that every teacher in the building does not utilize the technology available to their fullest extent. This would only improve the ability for students to communicate with teachers or other students in the class. For example, students could share study guides on a particular class’s Google Classroom. The misuse of technology is not only largely inconvenient for the students at WHS, but furthermore just creates unnecessary issues that otherwise would not have been an issue. Students at WHS have an eight-class schedule, and too often, students are expected to complete homework for each of those classes every night.

Fortunately for students, many subjects have a textbook that is completely accessible online, helping to take off weight of a student when they have to lug their backpack to and from school every day. However, this does not go for all classes. If a class requires the use of a textbook and the class does not provide an online textbook, then the textbook is outdated, and should not be used.

There is absolutely no need to still be using paper for anything except for quizzes, tests, or papers that require a written signature for any reason. Many of the classwork sheets, homework sheets, quizzes, and tests that are used by teachers are printed regardless, so posting the digital copies of the sheets in a Google Classroom or emailing them to students would not only save the school money that would have been used on paper and ink, but also make things easier for students who miss school or for a student that lost a particular worksheet. It is the twenty-first century, and access to ever-evolving technology is something that students in the past could only have dreamt of. Students at WHS are becoming young men and women in a society that is more dependent on technology in the school and workplace than ever before. WHS is preventing students to become wholly active and beneficial citizens in society today by not using it to its fullest potential.