The availability of the Internet as a learning tool in schools is a very valuable resource. It provides students with many free interactive games and tools and a plethora of information. Along with that, a major issue with students using the Internet today is Internet safety. Although it can be a valuable resource, it can also be very dangerous. Certainly inappropriate web pages students could come across could pose a big problem for a school if it happened at school.
Another issue regarding the use of laptops in school is their value. Laptops are not cheap, and they are obviously very easy to break (either physically, or internally via a virus or something a student downloaded by mistake). Schools don't have a lot of disposable income, and a computer loss is a fairly big financial loss to the school. Even when taking all precautions, accidents happen, especially with younger children who may not be extremely careful with electronics.
Although laptops can be a beneficial learning tool, they can certainly provide some distractions. Students tend to wander off sometimes in class, and if they have a computer in front of them, this may not be extremely obvious to the instructor. For example, they may have an assignment to write a paper or do some research, and instead they are playing a game online or writing an email to their friends. Personnel must supervise and observe while students use laptops so that they follow along with the lesson and avoid distractions.
Plagiarism is always a threat in schools, but would definitely pose even more of a threat if students freely use laptops for research. Although the Internet is a wonderful tool to do research and read about a subject of study, students need to create their own thoughts when writing a paper. Laptops could pose a major temptation for plagiarism when creating projects and doing research online.