Chenango Forks High School 1984 Yearbook (Chenango Bridge, NY) - Full Access

ITEM: TIME MAGAZI E A NO CES ITS MAN-OF-THE-YEAR FOR 1983 ... THE PER ONAL OMP TER A you are probably aware, the United State (indeed, the entire industrial world) i experiencing an explo ion in the u e of the computer. Everyone, it eem , i latching onto the information barge. Your credit card company know where you went and how much you pent; your new car's computer tat– tle on you when the mechanic tune your motor; phone companies, power companie , and even your local library devour and tore little bits and pieces of you; the government glut it elf on the data of your life: I.R.S., Social ecurity, mployment, Unemployment, Motor Vehicle, Workers Compen– ation, local police, county police, tate police, F.B.I., C .LA. (Ever been to Ru ia, kid?) - all humming along in mug ecrecy. And the "per onal" computer has thru t itself into our lives. Hardly a magazine, televi ion program, city treet, or hopping mall go by without bombarding the con umer, urging him to spring a thousand or two to " enrich" hi life. ("Johnny flunked out of college because he couldn't use a computer. And it' your fault, dad, you elfi h cheap kate.") Even I.B.M., who e corporate no e wa somewhere in the Himalyas until a couple of years ago, i demeaning it elf, producing a little computer for the little guy. To in- ure proper education into thi microchip era, I.B.M. recently donated a con– iderable number of computers to chool in this and other areas. It wa a donation graciou ly accepted. Because the chool have taken on the re pon ibility of initiating the new breed of tudent. True, years ago tudent forgot how to perform imple problems in arithmetic because of their pocket Texa In trument calculator . But that (as the computer people love to ay) wa just the beginning. ow, the computer are everywhere in chool. Main office , guidance office , libraries, admini trators' offices, math cia e , cience cia se - row upon row of them. Entire rooms of them! henango Fork ha even hired a computer coordinator to keep this ava– lanche of hardware in order; last year the Forks Board of Education ruled that each teacher must take a cour e in "computer literacy" (a.k.a. "How to u e them."); quadron of tudent carry around flaccid 45-rpm-ish discs. An entire generation i learning how to genuflect in front of green letters on a TV creen. We are all leave in the mindle s stream, dashing with the current, fearful of being left behind; and we are lo ing control of our direction. The chool 'reaction? ... More machines. More courses. Will thi arne generation, while gaining a technical skill, remain largely ignorant? Few of us will ever know how a computer works, fewer will learn how to build one. And if the machine corrects spelling, grammar, and usage error ; if it in erts proper punctuation; if it rearranges our poor sentence tructure - why bother to learn the rule ? If we can make books ob olete – why print them? It i naive to think that the computer is a fad and will die out by itself– like pop rock , Valley girl , the Sex Pi tols, and marijuana brownies. Com– puter are here to tay, and the chances are good that this i just the beginn– ing. The technology will become more astounding, more complex. You will make tax tran actions, order from Ward' , pay your telephone bill, make an airline re ervation - all in the comfort of your home. And in the comfort of it office , the Federal Government will communicate with your bank, Ward' , your telephone company, and your travel agent. And the state police with the motor vehicle bureau and your home and your telephone company and your employer. And the Internal Revenue "Service" with your bank and the tate police and your automobile mechanic and your dentist. And the county police with the F.B.I. and your Master Charge bank and your tax a e or and your grocer. All in one big happy family, over een by one master computer making sure all works in uni on for the common goal; the better– ment of our uperior y tern and protection from enemies within and without. And, to keep it all in the family, we'll name our master computer Big B ... Well, no; we'd better not. We are con tantly being rea ured by corporation heads and our brethren in Wa hington that our privacy i afe, that the master computer link will not be made. h-huh. And I've got a deed for a bridge in my back procket, my friend . There i a cene in Truman Capote's short story "Miriam," in which a line of people are walking down a mountain, led by a small girl with blond hair. "Where i he taking u ?"a ked a voice in the rear. "No one knows," came the reply, "But isn't she pretty?" ?