Dear Bernie,

Like many parents, I attended the curriculum meeting last night with misgivings about the proposed laptop program. Had someone on the faculty or board articulated compelling reasons for this program, I think we might have been convinced. However, the many telling points raised by other parents at the meeting persuaded me that there is not a strong rationale for adopting laptops in the eleventh grade. I have no doubt the upcoming Junior Class will be best-served by encouraging computer use, but not requiring them to purchase laptops which they bring to every class.

The opposition to the laptop program does not reflect ignorance of technology, but appears to be strongest in those of us with expertise in the use of technology. I majored in Physics as an undergraduate at Berkeley, received a Ph.D. in Biophysics at Harvard, and I am currently a Professor of Immunology and Biochemistry at the University of Washington, where I teach and supervise a laboratory carrying out basic research in molecular immunology. I myself know how important it is to be able to use computers, but I also know that computer skills cannot substitute for other skills.

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.

I also remember from our older daughter's experience at Hopkins School in New Haven (which echoed my memories from my own high school days at Saint Nicholas School) that 11th grade was a time of consolidation of skills, when students felt comfortable with their abilities and began earnestly to reason, criticize and synthesize. Teachers play an important part at this stage, by challenging students and focusing discussions. The comments from the faculty at last night's meeting convinced me that the laptops will distract them from their roles as educators. There will undoubtedly be downtime during the transition. Instead of talking about an exciting book, faculty will discuss how to reboot most quickly, or how to get rid of the irritating broken lines in Powerpoint.

I was not only disappointed to learn how little discussion there has been about the proposed laptop program, I was also disappointed that the process behind the proposal involved the board but not the faculty or parents. This disappointment was heightened by the superficial treatment of the topic given by the chair of the board yesterday evening. His argument was a crass one: Lakeside is a business, and the children are consumers. If this is his educational vision, he should not be making educational decisions; if this is the board's vision of education, Lakeside is in deep trouble.

I urge you to revisit the question of whether laptops should be introduced in the eleventh grade next fall, and to include parents and teachers in the process. While it may be tempting to push the laptop program through, I am sure that doing so will create a reservoir of ill-will that will color the relationship of parents and children with the shool, not only next year but into the future. I have no doubt that we could all participate in very fruitful discussions, and that we would be able to design a strategy in which increased computer use would enhance but not intrude upon these last two years at Lakeside.

Nancy Maizels, SNS 64
Molly Weiner's mother