Technology benefits students (Yip Ka Wing, Andy, 5B)

Some people may think technology is a hindrance, instead of a help, to students. Do you think so? As a student, I do not agree with them.

First, technology can facilitate students’ learning. Students can obtain so much information on the Internet nowadays. For example, a student who does Biology needs figures showing human organs to help him learn the subject well. In the past, he might borrow that from his teacher or go and buy it. However, with the Internet, what he needs to do is to click the buttons on the Internet and there will be lots of figures for him to choose. Technology saves our time, so we can have more time to spend on our studies. How can we say that technology is a hindrance to students?

Second, students can learn during chatting through ICQ or playing online games. When chatting through ICQ, students can practise their written English. This can make them write more and more fluently. Besides, not all online games are harmful to young people. Some of the games can enhance students’ knowledge in different aspects, like that in geography.

People may argue that if there were no technology at all, students would study harder. It is totally wrong. If technology did not exist, society could not make any progress. Modes of education would therefore not be possible to improve. Actually, whether to study hard is not the result of technology but depends on students themselves.

To conclude, technology is not a hindrance, but a help, to students as long as students can use it appropriately.

Technology is a hindrance to students (Ho Chi Hui, Gibson, 5B)

Technology can be harmful to students’ studies and mental health.

First, students may not be able to control how much time they spend on the computer. Some students spend too much time on the computer even though they have lots of homework to do. When they spend too much time on the computer, they will become too tired to do their assignments. They may find doing homework boring. As a result, they will ignore their homework.

Second, spending too much time on the computer can make students addicted to it. This will be harmful to their mental health. When they spend the whole day sitting in front of the computer and only chatting with friends by texts, they will get used to not talking to people face to face. When their addiction becomes more serious, they may not be willing to talk to their family. This will make their relationships with their family poor.

Finally, there are no any advantages for students to talk through ICQ or other online chat rooms. For example, when students talk through ICQ , most of them will type in Cantonese. Only few of them type in English. How can they improve their English standards? Even though they English, they tend to use ICQ language, which is created by themselves, like codes rather than language. Some of the words of the ICQ language may contain violence or even sexual messages. This will decrease students’ abilities of mastery of formal language.

“No pain, no gain.” If students do not spend time on their studies, they will not obtain good results. Therefore, students should spend more time on their studies instead of the computer.