It’s a Monday afternoon and it’s ninth period. Legs are shaking, pencils are tapping, everyone’s getting a little restless. And as expected with a restless class, we all tend to get a bit off topic. The “off-topic” portion today was the entire class complaining about how this year, Niles West decided not to provide the freshmen and sophomores with assignment notebooks.

To be fair, the school actually decided to not give assignment notebooks last year (to freshmen); however, many freshmen ended up receiving them anyway after a mix-up.

The school decided that it would be best for the students just to write our assignments and homework onto our lovely netbooks. Judy Wheatman, executive secretary to the principal, said the reason why freshmen and sophomores do not get planners anymore is because, “The school wants them to utilize the handbook online. Eventually we want the school to go electronic. Juniors and seniors get them because they don’t have netbooks.”

As you all may know my opinion on these netbooks (if not, here’s the link), I believe that they took away these greatly appreciated assignment notebooks, because the school is trying to get some use out of these tiny devices. Or maybe it’s because they want our teachers to get used to us taking them out during class. I recall that last year, in most of my classes, I was usually yelled at if my netbook was out.

Honestly, I think what’s really stirring everyone up is the fact that the school never told us what program to use, or where to write our assignments. Do we just write it on Open Office? Or should we just click on all the pre-loaded applications to see which one works best? Hmm, that sounds like an adventure I’d like to skip.

But on a brighter note, this change does save some trees. And… that’s about the only Pro I can possibly think of.

I personally feel that the real, paper assignment notebooks are much more convenient for about three reasons. One, I don’t have to worry about it’s battery being low, considering that it’s paper. Two, I know my legitimate writing won’t delete itself or not save. And three, I know for a fact that my paper assignment notebook will keep my level of frustration with these computers low.

Do you guys think that this change was a great idea? Or did you have to waste $3 and buy one in the book store, while the upperclassman got them for free? Tell me your thoughts!