When talking about learning, I believe a first consideration must be the conditions in which learning can take place. We know from research a couple of important things on this topic. Thirty years of research has demonstrated clearly that parents involvement in their children s education is more important to the success of that child at all levels of schooling than family income or parents education. Parents are a child s first teacher. It is crucial, therefore, to a child s well being that his or her parents demonstrate the importance of learning by actively involving themselves in their child s education.
Computer use can be another form of parent involvement, if parents use it advantageously.
The National Education Commission on Time and Learning recently reported that we must increase the amount and quality of instructional time for our students. The Information Superhighway will help make this possible by allowing students to connect to their schools and other sites from remote locations, including from their home. Thirty-two percent of elementary school students and 37 percent of high school students had computers at home. We have to focus on whether we can use television, or software, or any other tools advantageously, for learning. When instructional materials are challenging, children will be motivated to learn.