Equity in Computer Education

* United States Senator (D-New Jersey). I wish to thank the members and editors of the Yale Law & Policy Review for their help in researching this commentary. 1. See, e.g. , D. Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973); H. Simon, The Consequences of Computers for Centralization and Decentralization , in The Computer Age: A TwentyYear View 212 (Dertouzos and Moses eds. 1979); A. Toffler, Previews and Premises (1983). Schools in the United States are also beginning to reflect this trend. Several studies have inquired into the availability of computer training in American schools. One study by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization of Schools found that a majority of schools now have at least one microcomputer for use in instructing students (53%). Furthermore, "[b]y January, 1983, 85% of all high schools, 77% of all junior-senior combinations and 68% of all middle and junior high schools had one or more microcomputers. The corresponding figure for elementary schools rose to 42%." The study also showed that the number of microcomputers in schools is growing at a faster rate than in previous years. Johns Hopkins University Center for the Social Organization of Schools, School Uses of Microcomputers: Reports from a National Survey, Issue No. 1, at 2 (April 1983) [hereinafter cited as HOPKINS Issue 1]. Further findings of the Hopkins study are set out in Johns Hopkins University Center for the Social Organization of Schools, School Uses of Microcomputers: Reports from a National Survey, Issue No. 3 (October 1983) [hereinafter cited as Hopkins Issue 3]. In a related study conducted by the University of Minnesota and funded by the National Science Foundation, students were asked if they had used a computer or computer terminal in school. Thirty-three percent of age 17 (senior high) and 23 percent of age 13 (middle school-junior high) responded that they had. The researchers also reported that "[ejleven percent of age 1 7 students said they had studied computer programming for one or more terms compared with only 7 percent in 1978." R. Kazarian, Computer Learning Inequities are Found in Nation's Schools, National Science Foundation Press Release No. NSF PR83-61, at 2 (on file with the Yale Law & Policy Review)\ [hereinafter cited as Minnesota Study]. A survey conducted by a private market research firm found impressive increases in the number of computers in American classrooms. The survey showed that 24,642 of 82,422 public schools used computers in instruction in 1983, up 56.2% from the fall of 1981. In addition, of 15,314 U.S. school districts, 8,947 (58%) used instructional computers, up 39% from 1981-82. The fastest growth was reported in the use of computers in elementary schools. A total of 10,499 of the nation's 52,000 elementary schools now use instructional computing, up 80% from the previous year. Update on the School Market for Microcomputers, Market Data Retrieval Press Release, (October 1982) (on file with the Yale Law & Policy Review) [hereinafter cited as Market Data Survey]. According to another market survey by the same firm, the average American grade school has 3.6 computers, while the average high school has ten. Elmer-DeWitt, Slugging It Out in the Schoolyard, TIME, March 12, 1984, at 62 (quoting from a survey by Market Data Retrieval). 2. See e.g. , D. Bell, supra note 1.