Computer literacy: people adapted for technology

American superiority is being challenged world-wide. The failing mass-production economy erodes American stature and prestige . In the wake of the "deindustrialization of America" (as described in Computer and information technology, in particular, is billed as the elixir for the current afflictions that plague the United States (Grayson,1986) . And, as in other crisis periods, schools (educational systems) are beckoned to overcome the threat to America's international dominance (Anderson, 1986; Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986). The educational system is exhorted, partially through intimidation, to provide "all" students with the computer "competence" they need to be "functional" members of the expected new society, and thus return America to its accustomed leadership position .