Jaclyn Whitehorn (jaclyn@bama.ua.edu)
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 15:23:21 -0500
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Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 15:23:21 -0500 From: Jaclyn Whitehorn <jaclyn@bama.ua.edu> Subject: Re: [ifets] Another try - (Fwd) Size of Learning Market; Sto
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Mary -
That's very true! I must not have made my point clearly enough: that
computing is a *tool*, but a very important one. I do agree that you
should not be given a Bachelors degree in anything if you can't perform
basic tasks on a personal computer. However, I get frightened when
(K-12) schools spend money on computers for all the classrooms when: a)
the school buildings themselves are badly in need of repair, b) the
teachers are underpaid, and they need to hire more, and c) the teachers
that are there don't know how to integrate the computer into the course
work. [This happened recently in Tuscaloosa.] Computers are not the most
important thing, especially when they become nothing more than toys that
the teachers let children use when they are done with their real work...
I think at this point it is still more important for college students to
be computer literate than it is for K-12. Before I get hate mail, I do
realize that not everyone gets to go to college, but when the
educational system is dealing with limited resources, we must look at
priorities. When we graduate students who can't read, we have no
business focusing on computer skills!
Every college and university should require computer competency.
Period. When I was a student, I worked on a committee to try to add a
basic computer course to the core curriculum. It hasn't happened yet,
but I think people were listening, and I think it will happen. Funny,
though, when I tried to write an essay on this for a scholarship, I was
advise not to, in case the committee was made up of English professors
who might be offended!
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Jaclyn Whitehorn * User Service Consultant
Seebeck Computer Center * University of Alabama
jaclyn@bama.ua.edu * (205)348-8720
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