TEXT B An invisible border
divides those, arguing for computers in the classroom on the behalf of students
career prospects and those arguing for computers in the classroom for broader
reasons of radical educational reform. Very few write on the subject: have
explored this distinction -- indeed, contradiction -- which goes to the heart of
what is wrong with the campaign to put computers in the dark. An
education that aims at getting a student a certain kind of job is a technical
education, justified for reasons radically different from why education is
universally required by law. It is not simply to raise everyone’s job prospects
that all children are legally required to attend school into their teens.
Rather, we have a certain conception of the American citizen, a character who is
incomplete if he cannot competently asses how his livelihood and happiness are
affected by things outside of himself. But this was not always the case, before
it was legally required for all children to attend school until a certain age.
It was widely acteristic of all industrialized countries, we came to accept that
everyone is fit to be educated. Computer education advocates forsake this
optimistic notion for a pessimism that betrays their otherwise cheery out-look.
Banking on the confusion between educational and vocational reasons for bringing
computers into schools, computer advocates often emphasize the job prospects of
graduates over their educational achievement. There are some
good arguments for a technical education given the right kind of student. Many
European schools introduce the concept of professional training early on in
order to make sure children are properly equipped for the profession they want
to join. It is, however, presumptuous to insist that there will only be so many
jobs for so many scientists, so many businessmen, so many accountants. Besides,
this is unlikely to produce the needed number of every kind of professional in a
country as large as ours and where the economy is spread over so many states and
involves so many international corporations. But, for a small
group of students, professional training might be the way to go since
well-developed skills, all other factors being equal, can be the difference
between having a job and not. Of course, the basics of using any computer these
days are very simple. It does not take a life-long acquaintance to pick up
various software programs. If one wanted to become a computer engineer, that is
of course, an entirely different computer skills are only complementary to the
host of great skills that are necessary to becoming any kind of professional. It
should be observed, of course that no school, vocational or not, is helped by a
confusion over its purpose. It could be inferred from the passage that in the author’s country the European model of professional training is ______.
A.dependent upon the starting age of candidates B.worth trying in various social sections C.of little practical value D.attractive to every kind of professional