Discussion due in 16 hours

DISCUSS: Are Word Processing Program Making Students Lazy? - 

ASSIGNMENT: Read the entire forum question before responding. You are to respond with your opinion along with justification to back your opinion. To add your response you simply click on the 'Add a new discussion topic' button located at the bottom of this page. Give your response a title and then type your response in the text/comment box provided.

Additionally, you are to read at least two of your classmates responses and post comments to their postings. To do this you simply click on the link to the left of their name, and then click 'Reply'.

Today, word processing programs fix spelling and grammar mistakes, automatically format documents with templates, help correctly reference works cited in a document, and seem to do everything short of generating an idea for a document. Some educators believe that the proliferation of word processing automation is cheating students of the fundamental ability to perform these tasks on their own. Research shows that as word processing programs became more popular over the past years, the quality of written work done without the aid of this software has dropped dramatically. Opponents of using word processing software for assignments point out the quality of e-mail and instant messages is markedly worse than works written with the aid of modern word processing programs. Proponents of the use of word processing programs for educational use point out that automation is the way writing should be done now and in the future. The higher quality of works produced using the software is well worth not sacrificing time toward teaching students less modern tactics. Students are more productive and able to focus on the topics at hand, rather than worry about spelling errors.

Are word processing programs making students lazy? Why or why not? Should educators have the ability to turn off time-saving features, such as the AutoCorrect and grammar checker features, in their students’ word processing programs? Why? Do students need the ability manually to check spelling and grammar, format a document, and reference cited works in a document, in the same way that students still learn multiplication and long division? Why or why not?