Who would have a better sense of laptops in the classroom than the students who use them? Here are the views of a 10th grader at Brunswick High School, followed by four students who are in the eighth grade at Portland's King Middle School.

If you have your own thoughts about laptops in the schools or your own experiences to share, let us know at iherald@pressherald.com.

I had a laptop for two years in seventh and eighth grades.

I learn much more in high school from the combination of textbooks and the school's many high-quality shared computers than I did with my own out-of-date laptop. The Apple computers were often breaking, stalling, crashing, freezing, out of batteries, or having some other malfunction.

The laptops didn't make us any smarter, they just made teachers give us less actual work because simple assignments were dreadfully complicated with the laptops. We learned to make iMovies and computer presentations, which are fancy ways of spreading a small amount of information out with pictures, graphics and special effects, to appear knowledgeable.

Students appear to be working diligently when they are hiding behind their laptops playing computer games and instant messaging.

There were so many technical mishaps with our laptops that "My dog ate my homework" was replaced with "My laptop crashed."

High school classes, which focus on knowledge, teaching, and content, are far more productive than seventh- and eighth-grade laptop lessons, which were spent fixing never-ending computer problems and making flashy presentations.

David Slovenski, 15

Having a laptop has made school more fun.

We get to do interesting projects and activities like designing Web pages and playing educational online games. It also makes researching a lot easier.

Before we got our laptops, we had to get information from books and encyclopedias that weren't always up to date, and didn't usually have all the information we needed. Now we get more accurate information off the Internet.

Also, we can type assignments on our laptops, instead of writing them out, which saves a lot of time.

There are also some things I don't like about having a laptop. It crashes when I haven't saved my work in awhile, which is frustrating, and it's one more thing to keep track of, but overall having a laptop has made school more interesting, and I feel lucky to have one.

Nina Sasser, 13

I think the laptops at King are a great addition to our school.

They level the playing field for kids who don't have computers at home. We use them in most of our classes, but they still haven't caught on with all of our teachers yet. Even though they're still great to have.

They make it so easy to do research projects because we have the Internet and an encyclopedia right at our fingertips. We also don't have to wait in line for the computer lab.

Like some may think, they don't rule our lives and we're not obligated to use them. If we want to handwrite something we can, or if we want to use the textbook, we can.

Donald Bennett, 13

The laptops give me a sense of freedom, like the world at your fingertips any time you need to know something.

As much as I love and adore the library, it's useful not to have to go running around the building every time you need a certain resource. All your textbooks, pens and papers are right there in a handy machine.

Not that I'm saying that we should never have to write by hand or do research in books. Another thing that (I) enjoy about them is that they aren't as purely educational as the teachers might wish. I remember last year being in a group that got together to track the election using the laptops. We also watched the Jib-Jab (political cartoon) movies, which are without doubt no part of the curriculum.

The only thing that I don't like about the laptops are that if yours malfunctions and has to go in to be worked on, it's like you've lost an arm or a leg, and you fall behind in any of the classes that are using them at the moment.

Kayla Cogle, 13

I think these laptops are great. They are helpful to us students and teachers.

The best part I think about the computers are looking for the research so you don't have to look in the encyclopedia and dictionaries. Its Apple Works is the best because it's easier to write, it's neater and better looking then writing it.

I don't think laptops should be used for anything else but school and class work and not games and other things. The laptop should be for sixth grade, too, because it sounds kind of unfair, and they should be able to use (one). Laptops are a piece of equipment. It's not a play toy.

Shane Samara, 13