By JULIA SMITH
Sophomore
Warsaw Community High School

Computer and printer-free students find school difficult without them. Many students struggle to complete technology-based homework required by teachers without these resources.

Several teachers assign projects that require a computer or printer, and many students suffer without availability to these necessities.

Students without access to computers or printers often times do not have any other options. “I do believe when a student says they do not have ready access to a computer or printer that it is a valid excuse because I used to be a lower class student that did not have such materials,” said Mr. Baier, science teacher at Warsaw Community High School.

Although times have changed, schoolwork continues and often proves to be a challenge for numerous students unavailable to these resources. “There have been many instances in which not having access to a printer or computer has negatively affected me. Many of my grades have been lowered because of this problem,” said Sidney Hernandez, a sophomore at WCHS.

However, many teachers argue computer or printer-free students excuses are invalid due to public and school libraries. “I get these excuses all the time. A student would need to make other arrangements to stay after school, come in early, or go to the Warsaw library,” said Mr. Smith, English teacher at WCHS.

However, for some students a ride does not come easily either.

Allowing teachers to expect or make transportation mandatory before or after school by a working parent does not work in all situations as Hernandez explained, “My mother cannot take me before or after school, and she does not allow other students to drive me. I have no form of transportation in most of these circumstances.”

A simple alternative teachers should accept from computer and printer-free students to avoid these problems: hand-written paper. “It worked for hundreds of years. It should still work,” said Bair. “Most of us teachers are old enough to remember the time before internet and household computers. It seems as though some have forgotten.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Julia Smith wrote this because her English teacher, Mr. Smith (mentioned above), put her in a situation where she could not turn in a completed essay or the rough draft on time because she does not have a working printer. “I would have wrote about my experiences, but we are not allowed to write about ourselves  in our stories,” she said. So Julia interviewed her teacher and another student who was in the same situation as she was.

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