Techno-Reformers and Classroom Teachers

By Larry Cuban

The persistent dream is that technology can drive school and classroom change. But it doesn't happen that way.

The president of the United States set as a goal in his last State of the Union Address that "[e]very classroom in America must be connected to the information highway." Six weeks later, he and Vice President Al Gore came to California to help wire schools for what locals called NetDay. This month, NetDay goes national, as states and localities across the country designate their own "days" and "weekends" to wire schoolhouses for the Internet. But as more and more schools become wired, are more teachers and students navigating the Net? Just a few.

If there is one institution that techno-reformers have sought again and again to revolutionize, it is the public schools. NetDay is simply the most recent effort to close the gap between high-tech workplaces and low-tech schools. Techno-reformers, mostly public officials, corporate leaders, and other noneducators far removed from classrooms, deeply believe in the power of technology to transform...