When iPads were first implemented into the curriculum at Parker, I was ecstatic. At the time I was in seventh grade, and my phone was not allowed to leave my locker under any circumstance throughout the day.

Though I was happy about the addition, my excitement was for all of the wrong reasons. I was looking forward to having a tool in the classroom that could be used for Snapchat or Instagram, not an educational device.

I also admit that I didn’t think much of its cost. At the time I was not exactly aware of the price of a Parker tuition, let alone what it means to ponder the best use of Parker dollars.

So in those two years of middle school, I just went along with it. I put my iPad to use in the classroom, whether it was for doodling on Notability or using an online textbook. But as the clock struck 3:10 pm, my iPad found its way into my backpack and retired until the next morning.

Though at the time I didn’t have a computer at home, I still went out of my way to encourage my parents to let me use theirs for a couple hours at home to complete homework. Despite this, as I mentioned before, I still used the iPad at school, so I didn’t think of removing iPads from Parker.

Two years passed, and I had around a week until my first day of high school. Because of Parker’s requirement of a personal laptop, I was in the Apple store, buying my first computer. Freshman Oritentation was only a few days later.

I remember sitting in the auditorium, surrounding by familiar faces, as well as some new ones. As Freshman Grade Head Cory Zeller was speaking about our transition to Parker, I couldn’t help but notice the piles of iPads at stage right. They looked worthless, as if they were just pieces of paper stacked atop one another, but then again, that pile added up to be more than $21,000.  Still I didn’t about it too much.  I already had a lot on my mind with its being the start of high school.

For the first three months of school, I used my iPad for nothing more than looking at my schedule. I had taken a picture of my schedule at the beginning of the year and was too lazy to export it to my phone. Yet I could have easily done so, making my iPad basically useless.

Then one day I was in science class, and my teacher, Leslie Webster, instructed us in to use our iPads to complete a lab, then turn it in on Google Classroom. I was shocked.  I had not used my iPad for educational purposes all year.

Ever since that day, I have not had to use my iPad again.

A form was sent out in November, encouraging students to fill out their thoughts on the use of iPads at Parker. A total of 135 students filled it out, and the results were, to say the least, concerning.

70.9% of respondents, one of those being myself, said they almost never use the iPads provided to them by the school. Only 14.4% of Parker students used their iPad for academic purposes. This clearly proves that the iPads are a complete waste of money that could be used for something beneficial to every student.

Senior James Hulsizer wrote a proposal which offered next steps. The proposal reads, “Stop buying new iPads for all Upper School students, recycle the iPads students currently have at the end of the 16-17 school year, keep three iPad carts to allow students to borrow iPads or use them in class.”

In terms of budgeting, Hulsizer proposed a number of options on what to with the $21K. His proposal says, “Add more money to scholarships, lower tuition costs, fund a ‘Project Week’ for students to explore academic interests, fund more field trips, improve the performance of the Parker wifi, fund long-term initiatives for the school, allocate additional funds to the Dean of Student Life’s Office.”

Though the proposal passed in plenary, it is still being discussed among the staff. I do recognize that for some classes, such as Geometry+ use the iPads to a great extent, so it’s hard to predict what will be the final decision in terms of iPads at Parker, but there is a clear issue uselessness.