pen and ink

I read recently of a proposal to allow students of a certain university to use laptops in the exam room instead of writing their answers using a pen and paper.

At first, I could only think of the advantages such a system would mean for all concerned.  I can remember having four, three hour written examinations crammed over just two days.  It took my hands and wrists about a week to recover, such was the pain endured.  And I dread to think how the examiner actually managed to read what I’d written as the days wore on.

So, a win win for both student and examiner then?

But then I thought about the pitfalls.  Cheating of course would be a major problem.  Unless that is the college provide freshly formatted, standard laptops for each exam.  Pricey.  And there’d always be someone able to circumvent any security measures put in place.  A hi-tech alternative to sneaking crib notes into the exam room in your pencil case.

Then there’s the problem of the machine breaking down.  Imagine that you’re just finishing off your last question when the dreaded PC freeze happens, the battery runs out or there’s a power cut and all your work is lost.  At least with a pen you can refill it or switch to a spare, instead of pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE and starting all over with 5 minutes to spare.

Finally, and I’ve written before about how constant PC use reduced my previously lovely handwriting to a scrawl, think of the generations of people growing up who have never actually had to write anything by hand.  It’s bad enough now, and I’m having to write daily to try to regain my old skills, so imagine never, ever having to write quickly and under pressure.

The world would be full of doctors.

must be right