Dear Lakeside Parent,

I'm Doug Schuler, father of Reed Schuler, a 10th grader at Lakeside. I'm sorry to interrupt you with this unsolicited letter. I believe that Lakeside's proposed mandatory laptop program is misguided. I believe that it's a "solution" in search of a "problem." And that is why I'm writing.

I am a concerned parent and a computer professional with degrees in computer science and software engineering. I teach computing at the college level and I am particularly interested in the role of computing in education. I have been wary of the proposed mandatory Laptop program for some time. For that reason I wrote a note to Bernie Noe on February 9 of this year to express my concerns with the mandatory laptop idea. I also cc'ed a number of class representatives and a few others whom I felt might be interested. Since that time I have learned that a large number of teachers, parents, and students share doubts about the program. Although there may not be a majority there are certainly enough of those with doubts to make us question the viability of this project as it's currently envisioned.

Many of these concerns are now on a web site that I've established to air these concerns to a broader audience. The site is at http://www.scn.org/commnet/laptops. It contains the original report on the 7th grade Laptop pilot project by Judy Lightfoot, an English teacher who taught at Lakeside for 25 years. By the way, the website does not contain the report that purportedly contains the "hard facts" that this program is reportedly based on. I was told by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory that Lakeside administrators asked them not to make the report available to me [see web site]. I am assuming in the absence of information to the contrary that the report does NOT address the fundamental questions that parents and others are now asking.

The doubts focus on the educational value of the experiment. For example, it has not been adequately explained what pedagogical or curricular issues are being addressed by this program. Bernie has recently stated that the mandatory laptops will build organizational and research skills. Although these are of course worthwhile goals it's unclear how this will happen. What evidence that is not merely anecdotal supports those claims? And if those skills are deficient among Lakeside students what other approaches were examined that might turn out to be more effective, less intrusive, and less expensive? Many, if not most, of the Lakeside teachers, by Bernie's own admission are against this mandatory program. The objections to this program, just to make this clear, generally have been generally coming from people with substantial experience, knowledge and comfort level with computers and their use. Although none of the critics are "against" using computers in education, there is skepticism of the desire to make laptops the centerpiece of a Lakeside education.

One parent, Nancy Maizels, an alum of St. Nicholas School, who received her Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard wrote the following in a letter (also on the web site) to Bernie:

As an educator, I have had considerable opportunity to observe the qualities that make a student successful in college and beyond. Before coming to the U of W last fall, I taught for 13 years at Yale, in the Departments of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Genetics. My students at Yale included undergraduates, Ph.D. students, and medical students. Yale gets many very bright students, but there were common deficiencies that are quite telling in regard to the proposed laptop program. I never found a single student who had any difficulty doing web-based research, or using spread sheets or graphics programs. The deficiencies were in the areas of critical thinking and clear written and oral expression. Laptops don't really help any of this. If Lakeside prepares students to think, speak and write, they will be able to use whatever sorts of computers are out there once they graduate."

There are also, not insignificantly, various other costs (including financial -- the *additional costs* next year brought on by the laptop and increased tuition come to about $100 every week) that have not been factored in appropriately. The issue of process has also been brought up as an important factor: There seems to have been inadequate participation from in the decision making process for an experiment of this magnitude.

In my March 9th letter to Bernie Noe and the Lakeside trustees I recommended that "Lakeside suspend this process and begin a more open process that, not incidentally, clearly identifies the educational needs first." As I said in the letter, "There is no need to hurry into an expensive and risky program of this magnitude. There is broad agreement that computer literacy is important; there is no corresponding acknowledgement that mandatory laptops are the 'answer'."

I'm sorry to have taken the unusual step of contacting you and other parents with these concerns. My wife and I, as well as all of you, entrust to a large extent our children's education to Lakeside without seriously questioning the motives of the teachers or the administration. After some thought I felt it was necessary to broaden the discussion which, although not hidden, was not sufficiently open to bring in the necessary voices. I also feel that Bernie Noe may be "listening" to various voices of concern, but he is not necessarily "hearing" them. I'm hoping that if the volume of the voices is turned up slightly those voices might be heard.

It is my hope that after some serious reappraisal of this program and the process that spawned it, the Lakeside administration will suspend this process and go, with the help of the entire Lakeside community, "back to drawing boards" to develop a process and program that reflects the high principles and aspirations that we all expect. I believe that the Lakeside School can live up to our high expectations in terms of education and openness to dialogue. Leadership is not demonstrated by dogmatic commitment to executive mandates, but by flexible and enlightened responses to evidence, circumstances, and community concerns.

I'd like to close with a comment that another parent made in a note to Bernie: " If a laptop program were the right thing to do, the teachers and parents would be clamoring for it; something is wrong if you have to force this on the very people you hope to benefit."

Thank you in advance for your consideration in this important matter. If you have concerns about this program or about the process that developed this program I encourage you to bring these issues up at the curriculum and laptop night and to write Bernie ((bernie.noe@lakesideschool.org). Please discuss this issue with your child(ren) to get their feelings for the necessity of this program. Also review the web site for additional information. Please, also, feel free to contact me for any reason.

Doug Schuler
206.634.0752
douglas@scn.org