Access secondary to skills at CSU

SF State is doing its best to keep up. Some say this campus is closer to what lies on the horizon in technological resources than many others. But the possibility of SF State requiring students to own computers is a bad moon rising.

Already, Sonoma State University has implemented this requirement, dubbed "assured access," as a pilot program for the entire California State University system. According to a recent editorial in the Sonoma State Star, computers are collecting dust in the dorms.

Clearly, those who are paid to come up with ideas to help students are completely out of touch on this one.

If all students who wanted a computer could afford it, wouldn't they have one? Instead, if a plan like this is implemented, students will be expected to pay out of their pocket or take out a loan to buy a computer in order to be enrolled here.

Why doesn't the CSU foot the bill? Wouldn't it make more sense for the system to buy every student a computer? Of course not, it's not realistic, so how can the system expect the opposite to work.?

SF State is obsessed with being on the cutting edge. And this university is not alone. It's a trend in education in general.

It seems that having a cutting edge student body is secondary. Once again, students have been left out of the discussion.

This campus should develop a program in which each student is guaranteed an opportunity to learn basic computing skills and access to the equipment. In the future, not having these skills will be equivalent to not knowing how to read or write.

There should be a computer literacy requirement as part of general education. That way, once students gain the skills, they can decide when and how they want to use them -- if they want it at all.

Requiring students to own computers would be a breach of the student's freedom to choose, and it should never happen at SF State.

[ Golden Gater Online September 26, 1995 ]

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