Educators today are more and more often heard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary for college students. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have his or her own microcomputer. What advantages do computers offer the college students?
Any student who has used a word processor will know one compelling reason to use a computer: to write papers. Although not all students feel comfortable posing on a word processor, most find revising and editing much easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just by pressing a few keys, thus ridding students of the need to rewrite or retype. Furthermore, since the revision process is less difficult, students are more likely to revise as often as is necessary to end up with the best paper possible. For these reasons, many freshman English courses require the use of a word processor.
Computers are also useful in the context of language courses, where they are used to drill students in basic skills. Software programs strengthen ESL (English as a Second Language) instruction, as well as instruction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By using these programs on a regular basis, students can improve their skills in a language while proceeding at their own pace.
Similarly, business and accounting students find that computer spreadsheet (电子表格) programs are all but important to many aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts, marketing, and public relations find that knowledge of computer graphic (绘图) is important. Education majors learn to develop grading systems using computers, while social science students use computers for analyzing and graphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder then, that educators support the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A useful tool, the computer can help students learn. And that is, after all, the reason for going to college.
