Our View: Havre has an opportunity to lead

The Havre School Board voted 4-2 last week to purchase 500 iPads and begin using them in the classroom.

Some thought the district was rushing things a little bit, and the district should have gone a little slower.

In our view, the school board was right on in approving the iPad purchase, and if anything the district ought to move forward a bit more aggressively.

Technology is changing the way the world thinks, and the change is nowhere as dramatic as it is in the world of education.

Havre High students are tech savvy, and most of them could probably teach the rest of the county — and their own teachers — a thing or two about computers.

iPads offer teachers exciting ways of teaching.

They are more convenient for students, then can be updated quickly for different courses.

They are far more interactive than books, and they open the door to all kinds of research that can be done on the fingertips.

In using iPads, students will learn not only the subject matter, but they will learn about the technology that will dominate their lives.

The school district can do nothing more important than prepare youngsters for the lives they will live when they go to college or enter the world of work.

A survey by the Havre Daily News showed that many Montana school districts are doing more than Havre in purchasing iPads and putting them into use in the classroom, though many district are lagging behind.

We'd like to see Havre in the lead when it comes to providing quality education to students, and a key component of that goal is using technology that students will use later in their lives.

The action the school board took last week is a major first step toward meeting that goal.