But they are not likely to have learned how to stand apart from the integrated technology and decide whether this is the work that ought to be done, or the kind of life they really want to live. They may indeed achieve mental flexibility within the limits of the computer environment. But the cost may well be mental rigidity in shaping that environment, or venturing beyond it. Given the profound impact of computer technology on contemporary life, we have a pressing educational responsibility to direct our students' attention to the social issues related to it. It extends to complex issues regarding global responsibility and cultural awareness that should be a prerequisite to Web access.
Few educators are even aware that such issues exist.
But the issues are not new. In the age of global telecomputing the range of each person's actions is enormous. And so, therefore, are each one's responsibilities. We are now placing in students' hands machines more powerful and with a far greater reach than any tools young people have ever possessed. The demand that students be given the opportunities these machines afford has been loud and unrelenting.