Estrella's Position on New technology

7th and 8th graders in the 21st Century Pilot Program have experienced new technology powered by Microsoft. Many people believe that young students, like us, shouldn't be able to do so. However, students our age are learning different subjects than regular students. We learn Science and Math Reasoning, Globalization, Information Literacy, Mandarin Chinese, Critical Thinking, and The Arts, which is like P.E. We use our technology to take notes like we would in our notebook, but the laptop replaces pen and paper. The latest technology allows us to take notes in our own handwriting, and if we want, we have the choice to convert it to text, or keep it in our familiar handwriting. 7th and 8th graders shouldn't be judged or told what we can or cannot use. Intelligent learners should be rewarded for what we learn, and in our case, we are rewarded with this useful technology.
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/te0cont.htm