By Delaney Smith and Rachel Lamb

Technology. It surrounds us in every aspect of our lives.  A single beep from a phone can draw a full classroom of students to their backpacks in an instant and strike fear into them, as they hope that it is not theirs. FC’s strict cell phone policy may keep us from using technology in a way that distracts us from our school work, but is it  keeping us away from online resources that could help us outside of  teachers and books?

”It [eBooks] would greatly enhance the students ability to learn with the technology that they are surrounded by on a daily basis,” said senior Scott Schuchardt.

Many of the teachers at FC are already letting their students use mobile devices in class if they are used in a very controlled manner and for designated educational purposes.

“In English and Spanish classes we can use our phones to look up definitions on a dictionary app,” said sophomore Cara Miller.

This is one of the valuable resources that most of us do not have in school because of FC’s strict policies. Phones are the most denied resource in our school system because it has a huge risk of being used to do other things, such as texting and playing games. However; not all teachers allow cell phones to be used in the classroom, due to the possible distractions.  A different alternative is iPads.

“This year I am only allowing iPads, nooks, and eReaders,” said English teacher Karen Lehman.

Schools in our area, such as Providence, have switched to using iPads instead of  traditional text and reading books.

“Everything school wise you do on the iPad. Compared to carrying books around, it’s a lot easier,” said Providence sophomore Jakob Summers.

Many students at FC agree that switching to the use of technology, instead of lugging around those textbooks, would be much easier on student’s backs.  Not only will they alleviate weight off student’s backs, but could also limit the use of lockers throughout the school day.

“I am for FC eliminating textbooks, because I hate the fact of going to my locker every passing period,” said freshman Kaelyn Gibson.

English teacher Anne Martin agreed with most students saying that she expects to see eBooks taking over in the next few years.

“NAFCS is letting other schools to work out the bugs first, but they know that it is the future,” said Martin.

One of the few downsides to using iPads, instead of the traditional textbooks, is that the school would have to  get wireless internet. Having such a big school with so many students could be a huge challenge to get a signal strong enough to support everyone who would be using it.

Every step towards a more “high tech” education system is going to come with its glitches and bugs, but it is all about how these things are approached as a school and a community.

Lehman added one last opinion on the future of technology at FC.

“I think that technology instead of textbooks is the wave of the future for FC and there is no way to avoid it.”