Youth: OPINION : Without Computers, What Future?

The public-school system is failing to prepare graduates for the competitive business world. The reason? The lack of use of the basic business tool: the computer.

Computers must be implemented into every aspect of the educational process. Students should be taught drafting using CAD/CAM (a computer-aided drafting technique). Computer models can assist science educators by dynamically visualizing chemical reactions, biological processes and physical phenomena. Word processing must be incorporated into English studies, with every student writing a paper with a word processor several times a month. Economics should include lessons on creating a financial spreadsheet, requesting a financial loan and filing taxes. Computers would allow mathematics students to solve the complex problems facing engineers. Computers could include studies in chaos, the study of random occurrences and fractals, complex geometric designs, that have recently found applications in biology, economics, radio transmission and laser technology.

The educational system needs to prepare the student for the future. Challenges of economic instability and stagnation can be overcome if we change our public schools. The environment can be saved with business-friendly technologies. If my generation is to realize the American Dream, we need to adhere to writer Alvin Toffler’s truth: “All education springs from images of the future, and all education creates the future.”