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Yutian Pan
Professor Landrus
English 101X
28 October 2015

The Case for Banning Laptops in the Classroom: Rhetorical Analysis

As the personal computer technologies advance in the digital age, there have
been many arguments of when, and how to use the new technologies efficiently. One of
which is the use of laptops in the classroom. Many schools are investing to bring
laptops and tablets into the classroom, some teachers choose to ban the usage of
laptops in class completely. Dan Rockmore, a professor of math and computer science
at Dartmouth University, discussed his idea about computer usage in classrooms in an
article named The Case for Banning Laptops in the Classroom. Rockmores article is
highly persuasive for its targeted audience.
The use of laptops in classroom has always been a controversial issue. Although
there have been a number of studies that proved that the old way of studying, for
example, taking notes using pen and paper is more efficient, many students still believe
using laptops in classrooms is beneficial. People often hear students argue that
everyone has their own way and own style of learning, using laptops often is one of their
personal preferences. The author of this article, Dan Rockmore is a professor who has
done some research on the studies about laptop use in class, and wants to prove that
using laptops in class is not beneficial, from a professors perspective. Solving this issue

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means more students have learned a more efficient way to study and work, which will
benefit them in their lives. This is the reason why this article is essential to Rockmore.
Dan Rockmore started the article by telling his audience about an email he
received from a colleague of him, who also worked in the Department of Computer
Science at Dartmouth University, to suggest to Ban computers in the classroom. His
audience consists of mainly students and educators, because only students and
educators will be involved in the situation of laptop using in the classroom.
Rockmores audience can be easily attracted to the content of this article
because it is not common for a computer science professor to discuss about a ban on
computers in the classroom, especially a professor who taught programming class.
Rockmore then also explained that he too, has banned laptops in the classroom. To
make his stories persuasive, Rockmore used logos appeal, which is logic, to support his
reasoning. He explained that laptops have bec\Ome distractions in class instead of a
tool that make the note-taking process more efficient. His colleague has found that
many people were using social-media websites or online shopping when they use
computers in class. Rockmore assumed when using laptops, the temptation for
distraction should be high, because it was the same way for him. By explaining that he
feels the temptation of distraction when using computer, Rockmore used Pathos appeal
to enhance his argument. It is a common feeling that when using a computer, people
can be easily distracted. Rockmores audience would feel the same way when he
explained how he feels about distraction from using the computer, his argument
becomes more persuasive to his audience because they share the same feeling.

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After explaining his reasoning about why he banned the usage of laptops in the
classroom, Rockmore used ethos appeal to support his argument by using scientific
research studies. The first research study Rockmore chose was a study called The
Laptop and the Lecture, conducted by Human Computer Interaction Laboratory at
Cornell University in 2003. In this research, participants were chosen from a
communication class. Half of the class was encouraged to use their laptops in a lecture
and the other half of the class did not use their laptops. They were given a quiz after
class, the half students who did not use laptops did better on both parts of the quiz,
which were recall and recognition. Another research Rockmore used to support his
argument was a research by Princeton University and University of California, Los
Angeles, called The Pen Is Mightier than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand over
Laptop Note Taking. This research studied the differences between taking notes using
pen and paper, and taking notes using a laptop. This research has found that although
taking notes on a laptop is faster and more precise, however, students who take notes
by hand always perform better than students who use laptops to take notes. Because
the process of typing is a process of transcription, but during the process of taking notes
by hand, students are able to memorize and think about what they are writing down.
Rockmores argument becomes more persuasive by using two legitimate research
studies from three elite universities, because people always trust scientific research
results. By giving specific details of how the research was conducted, Rockmore
provided his audience an extra layer of trust.
In the end of the article, Rockmore explained that in the future, he would require
his students to read some of the research studies he used in this article because he

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wanted to help his students to understand why he is limiting laptop use in his classroom.
Rockmore also believed that institutions should always provide faculty with new
technologies, because currently the classroom is the progeny of an ill-conceived union
of twenty-first-century tools (computers, tablets, and smartphones) with nineteenthcentury modalities (lectures). With the acknowledgement of an online classroom,
Rockmore was surveying software and apps that are able to engage new learners and
create more creative minds. Rockmore has shown his audiences that he is not an old
school professor who disagrees with all the new technologies. He is extremely
reasonable, even if he wanted to ban technology, he does a lot of research, and wanted
his students to understand why he did what he did. Rockmore is also always wanted to
try new technologies to make education more efficient and creative. Letting the readers
know the writer is a reasonable person, not someone who criticizes an idea he/she
disagrees is extremely important. Not only the readers will consider this article more
seriously, all of the support of the argument would become more persuasive.
Overall, Rockmores article uses three main parts that supports his arguments;
his colleague and his own experiences, existing scientific research studies, and his view
on other technology use. In Rockmores article, the exigence has clearly been shown to
readers and he also used all three of logos, ethos, and pathos appeals. It is overall a
well-organized and persuasive article.

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Work Cited
Rockmore, Dan. The Case for Banning Laptops in the Classroom. The New Yorker,
June 6. 2014. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

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