Large-scale federal government spending on technology for the schools can be justified only if the technology will prove to be a better investment than others that might help overcome the severe problems schools face, and only if the investments will lead to development of a labor force capable of significantly improving this country's capacity to compete effectively in world markets. Current uses of computers in schools do not justify such investments.However, careful consideration of the possible sources of a competitive advantage for the United States in world markets not only indicates the magnitude and direction of the changes that must take place in American schools, but shows as well that a very large investment in information technology for the schools would return large dividends.The central challenge is to convert our schools from organizations designed at the turn of the century to provide a work force for the large-scale production of standardized products; they must be changed to organizations designed to turn out people who can add more value to the products and services they produce than do their competitors. The required adjustment will mean fundamental changes in the recruitment, education and compensation of teachers and an equally thorough redesign of the curriculum.If--and only if--these measures are carried out, then computer work stations embedded in large telecommunications networks should be provided to our schools in a ratio of one station to every two to four students. The work stations should be provided with tool, or application, software--not instructional software--that students would use in virtually every course at every grade level, and should be able to communicate with one another as well as terminals and computers at a distance. The effect would be both to enable students to acquire the substantive skills they will need and to equip them with the ability to use information technology as a tool to accomplish a virtually infinite range of tasks, permitting them to be much more productive than they could otherwise be.The proposed federal program would constitute a major investment by this country both in the future labor force and the current information technology industry, and, as such, would encompass both education policy and economic policy, joined in a single initiative.
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Computers in the schools: the federal role
Tucker, Marc S.
Follow ACM SIGCUE Outlook
, Volume 18 (2-4)
Association for Computing Machinery – Jan 1, 1986
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