Some districts have invested in Web filtering and monitoring systems that enable school officials to screen categories that may be inappropriate. Still, nearly one fourth of materials that make it through the screening process are used for entertainment, games and sports. Electronic communication experts such as Yale University computer scientist David Gelertner caution that the Web should never become a substitute for structured teaching, for encouraging children to love reading books or for insisting on effective writing. The answer to these dilemmas is not to get rid of computers. Rather it is to use them properly as a supplement to an effective, caring teacher in the classroom who can interact one on one with the students.
Computers are a tool to help children learn for themselves.
A computer's potential to do well may be modestly greater than a book in some areas. Its potential to do harm is vastly greater. Robert Hagerty, Ed. D. has been Dean of the School of Education since 1996.