IP: three interesting pieces fron edupage

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

EDUCATOR QUESTIONS COMPUTER USE IN K-12 INSTRUCTION
Samuel Sava, head of the National Association of Elementary School
Principals, says: "I have not the slightest doubt about the value of
computers in our society.  But I question whether we have learned to apply
this technology to K-8 instruction... If computers make a difference, it has
yet to show up in achievement. We must have the courage to resist the public
enthusiasm for sexy hardware and argue for the funds necessary to train our
teachers.  We cannot send them into the computer room with nothing but a
user's manual.  If you've ever read one of those things . . .they give new
meaning to the phrase, 'English as a second language.'" (USA Today 25-17
Jul 97)


STEVE JOBS MAY BECOME CHAIR OF APPLE BOARD
A resignation from Apple's board of directors by board member Delano E.
Lewis leaves the company now with a total of only five members.  Sources
close to the San Jose Mercury News, as well as the MacWorld Web site, say
that co-founder Steve Jobs may be named chairman of the board this week.
(San Jose Mercury News 26 Jul 97)


WHY IS THE ECONOMY HUMMING?  "COMPUTERS," SAYS GREENSPAN
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan thinks the reason that inflation
seems to be under control in spite of vigorous growth in the current economy
is that information technology first introduced on a large scale in the
1980s is finally producing better business performance in the 1990s.  "An
expected result of the widespread and effective application of information
and other technologies would be a significant increase in productivity and
reduction in business costs."  Is there also a downside to the good news?
Technological innovation has "brought with it a heightened sense of job
insecurity and, as a consequence, subdued wage gains ... It is one thing to
believe that the economy, indeed the job market, will do well overall, but
quite another to feel secure about one individual situation, given the
accelerated pace of corporate restructuring and the heightened fear of skill
obsolescence that has apparently characterized this expansion."  (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 27 Jul 97)