Divide By Zero - a blog by Kamran Ayub

But today, they crossed the line. Today they didn't make me want to learn. Today they just left me irked. They left me questioning exactly why I paid to be here. I bet you're wondering who they are? Well. Let me tell you a little story.

***

It was cold. Cold… but not cold. You know the kind I'm talking about. The kind that freezes boiling water in mid-air. The kind that makes you wish you'd put on some warmer clothes this morning because three feet out the door your legs are already numb and you're late for class.

It was not that kind of cold. I was walking to my first class of the day, a class that I wasn't really looking forward to… I had heard things. You know, that friend that took it last semester and whispered to you, almost desperate, almost silent, "Dude, it was a massacre." That special emphasis on the word 'massacre' erased whatever question you had about its authenticity. The cold look of fear and dread in his eyes pushed every thought against its being a lie far, far from your mind.

Anyway, that's the class I was going to. I walked, I grabbed a bus, I hopped, I strode toward that class with every expectation of meeting my doom than ever I had before.

I sat down, I said hello to some other friends who had the same blank look on their face and I waited for it to begin.

Like every first class, this was just a "get to know me and you" lecture. All about why this class is the best thing since sliced bread and how every student that came before you loved it and how the instructor was such a nice guy. Same old, same old, I've already heard this for 2 and a half years. Listen, every instructor can say what they want, but I've had good instructors and I've had bad instructors, I've even had them in between. You can't always trust them the first day.

We were at the point where we go through the syllabus that no one everyone read. This is where you learn how they really are. What makes them tick. What excites them, what makes them giggle with delight when you mess it up, when you get it wrong. Alright, maybe they don't, but it feels that way sometimes, doesn't it?

Here are the words that occurred during this spiel:

"Blah blah blah"

"Blabbity blah, I'm awesome, babble blabbity buh"

"I don't allow laptops in class. They are distracting to both me and the students. When you're on your laptop, at least 10 people behind you are watching you. So that's why I don't allow them. So suck it."

"Blubbery blub bluh."

Wait, say what? I blinked. I blinked again. Do you know how much it takes to make me blink twice that quickly? A lot.

I had my laptop out, of course. I usually always do. It was sitting there, its fan quietly whirring, imperceptible in the noise surrounding its small, delicate aluminum body. It was on a screensaver, it wasn't very exciting.

You see, my laptop is no ordinary laptop. It's… special. It is gifted. It can, ahem, transform. You heard me right. It transforms. It transforms into a notebook. It transforms into a pad upon which I take my daily notes. It transforms into a fundamental utility that I use in each class, to make sure I keep track of everything important that I hear and see. It is, at its core, my all-in-one infinity-subject power notebook-calendar-organizing-storage-machine.

Now, let's not be silly here. Don't assume I have a problem with grabbing one of my notebooks and bringing it to class, if only to make this instructor feel good. No, no, no, I've no problem with that. I only acquired this laptop recently. What do you think I was using before then? My laptop and a notebook.

Full of paper.

Paper, that often gets lost in transit, stained beyond repair, but is fundamentally crucial to success at college. But paper isn't everything. It has its flaws. Flaws that my aluminum companion heals.

I cried.

***

Alright. I may have exaggerated a teensy, weensy bit in my story. But at its core, it's all true. I took some… artistic liberty. In fact, I read my syllabus tonight for tomorrow's class. The instructor says the same thing in there:

There is no need to use a computer during class. If you bring one, it must remain off during class. […] It is rude to the instructor and distracting to other students to be surfing, emailing, texting, instant messaging, etc. during class.

So now, for two of my classes, I am supposed to not take notes on my tablet PC, which, by the way, it was made for.

Here is the why I wrote this post.

I disagree.

I do. I fundamentally disagree with the idea that students shouldn't be allowed to use their laptop in class, for whatever purpose they choose.

I understand why it could be construed as a bad idea. Yes, I'm not going to pretend that people don't surf the web, that I haven't surfed the web during class. But I think that these instructors are missing something very important: that's what we do.

Do I need to point to the countless studies on how our generation multi-tasks? How we use continuous partial attention?

I use my laptop in class to take notes.
I also use it to check my email.
I also use it to get course material off the website.
I also use it to browse the latest blog posts on Kotaku.
I also use it to download the lecture slides and make notes directly on top of them and store them in a virtual notebook that keeps everything I write in it safe and searchable.
I use my laptop to keep me from falling asleep in class when it gets too "sleepy" in there.
I use it to quickly look up, highlight, and tag important terms, words, and ideas I hear during class for my exams.
I use it to connect to my computer in my room.
I use it to learn.

I do all of that and more. A computer is a tool that I use to communicate and record, a tool that I use to stave off boredom, a tool that I use that helps me learn the way I need to learn.

And now I come to the title of my blog post. Even if you don't believe anything I said, even if you believe that everything we do on our computers distracts every person in class, even if you believe that no good can come from a laptop that can be replaced by paper, there's still just one thing:

I am paying $18,086 a year for my education.
I am paying $1806.60 per class (evenly split) this semester. 
I am paying $62.36 a day to take your class and you're telling me, I can't use my laptop? I could waste that money in a lot of places but I choose not to, I choose to use it to better my education, to learn from some of the smartest people I may ever meet, and I can't use my laptop?

Sorry, but I can't agree with you. Not when that is coming out of my pocket, when I have to pay that back over my entire life.

So, is it really so much to ask? Is it really so much to ask to use my laptop to take my notes?

You might disagree with me. Tell me it's not a big deal to use one measly notebook… and I agree with you. It's not a big deal. It's a small deal. It's a small deal that I don't think I should have to go through when I pay money to learn. That's all I'm saying.

I'm tired. Good night.