Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 11, 1998

We have the technology

The University of Arizona has made it.

According to a Yahoo! survey released last month our institution ranks 14th among "wired" university campuses. We're right up there with the M.I.T.s and the Princetons.

"The UA provides multiple ways for students to get the resources they need, said Dan Roman, network operations manager for the Center for Computing and Information Technology. Indeed, the student body of the university does have access to all sorts of technology.

Now is the time to push our curriculum to keep up with the future.

Technology is becoming more and more crucial to the employment hopes of students. It's in the papers and on television. Yet, it is still possible to get through the UA without learning anything more than a word processing program.

We need more instructors to use technology in casual communication, more class listservs and web pages.

Beyond the occasional class-assigned Internet search, the university needs to demonstrate its national leadership in technology. The general education curriculum should be cahnged to reflect the computer's place in the real world.

The point of a generalized education is to expose students to different information, resulting in a well-rounded graduate. A rudimentary background in physical or biological science is a component of that education.

Today, computer science should take ist place in the general education curriculum, so that more graduating UA students have the practical and basic skills they need to get a foot hold in the real world.

We can do it, we have the technology.