Editorial about paperless classroom was misguided

TO THE EDITOR:

 Your editorial (Save a tree use your laptop" March 17) was poorly thought out. I would encourage you to look at the history of the paperless office concept to understand why paper is still integral to our professional lives.

 I would argue that rather than pursuing the unrealistic and largely undesirable goal of becoming a paperless campus, we as a campus learn to use paper intelligently.

That means printing only when necessary, having professors carefully consider how much printing they should require of students for readings, allowing students to turn in assignments electronically and so on and so forth.

 Personally, I use a tablet personal computer for all my notes and homework.

It works really well for me, but I'm under no illusion that it's the right solution for everyone.

 For one, not everyone owns a light machine to carry around with them.

Further, your point that people should get over"" aversion to reading on screens completely disregards a fundamental principle of design: It's not just about the technology" it's about people too.

 And let's not forget using computers instead of paper isn't inherently environmentally sound; computers require raw materials to be produced and substantial electricity to run.


Shaddi Hasan
Junior
Computer Science