Computers are a significant part of the 21st century office, and are used across a range of sectors from administrative work to health care. Familiarity with computers is often mandatory for individuals applying for jobs, and so introducing computers at an early age helps to prepare kids for their later working life. Kids can become familiar with the key programs and systems they'll use in the working world, such as word processing and email.
Computers are needed in education because of the connectivity they provide with both other students and teachers, a type of networking that extends beyond one classroom and connects kids to many other people. This allows students to make meaningful links with others -- for example, through Internet learning projects -- and as T. Oppenheimer puts it in his book "The Computer Delusion," establishes real-world relevance in children's education.
Computers are useful in adding to a student's education certain skills that are not readily learned elsewhere, or that are better learned using a computer. Students might learn simple computer programming, for instance, which could lead to an interest in that kind of work. Sometimes, computers allow students to grasp concepts, in areas such as math or spelling, that they have struggled with before, by presenting a new way to approach a particular subject.
In a typical classroom, a teacher must prepare lessons for a few dozen students, each with different abilities and needs. While a computer cannot eliminate the discrepancies between students' rates of learning entirely, computers can help a teacher to personalize a child's education. A computer can educate a student by allowing the individual to dictate the rate at which he learns, as Frederick Bennett, Ph.D., points out in his essay "Technology and World Education."
One simple reason why computers should be integrated into education is that kids are typically interested in them. In the 21st century, many children in countries such as the U.S. will have grown up with an awareness of, and usually experience with, computers, and see these machines not as learning devices but as part of their leisure pursuits. While computers in the classroom are not for entertainment alone, this background does mean that kids will often feel at ease when using a computer for work, and will be quick to engage with educational programs and activities through computers.