Editor’s note: Today’s letters to the editor are from Southwest Junior High students learning about persuasive writing.

To the editor:

I believe that the Lawrence Public Schools should distribute laptops instead of textbooks. You would never rip the pages, and you cannot mark in them either. I am writing this letter to help try to get the district to get rid of the textbooks and to give out laptops.

The seventh grade science textbooks that the Lawrence Public schools have cost $100 each. In our own school, not including the other Junior Highs in Lawrence, we buy around 250 books for each grade level. The district also buys extras so we can leave them at home, and the class can have a class set, and that’s just one book. We also have books for geography, math, etc.

Although you may be thinking, laptops are too expensive, how would the district ever be able to afford laptops? Instead of spending money on textbooks we would have money to spend on laptops. The parents could pay a rental fee to help keep the laptops maintained.

Did you know that it cost less to fix a laptop than to buy a backpack of textbooks? If the district bought laptops, then the textbooks could be loaded onto the laptop. Carrying a laptop would be easier than carrying a backpack full of textbooks. So help students save their backs and save money at the same time.

Lillie Huckaby,

Southwest Junior High