Why Should We All be Computer Literate?
Visited 357 Times Published by Rico February 26th, 2007 in Internet, Rico's Ramblings, Tech and Why.It’s a given that anyone regularly using the computer should learn basic stuff like file management, using apps, and of course, how to turn it on (and off!).
But thanks to Julie Amero, it’s even more clear that computer users everywhere should know even more than that. Like how to deal with surprises. The substitute teacher was convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor last January 5, 2007. Now she faces up to forty years in prison. Sentencing is set for March 2.
What happened? While substituting for a seventh-grade language arts class, pornographic ads started popping-up on a computer in her class. Some of the kids saw them.
The prosecution successfully convinced a jury that Amero intentionally accessed the porn, based on what their automated search tool told them. The defense contended that Amero’s tech illiteracy made her a victim of malware infesting the computer. IMHO, the prosecution didn’t consider all the facts. Why would a 40-year-old woman check out porn in front of students? But that isn’t the point. Especially when only The Register gives a comprehensive—and balanced—narrative of the events.
The point is, people who use computers regularly should at least know how to handle unexpected situations. Julie Amero would’ve avoided all this if she simply turned off the monitor. Or ironically, as the prosecutor suggested, pull the plug if the monitor was built-in. Even if she was warned not to turn off the computer.
Another “mistake” was that Amero failed to consider the reactions of all parties involved…like the parents of the students. Apparently the teacher and the assistant principal didn’t consider the incident significant, but that’s a no-no in a society where people exuberantly demand decisive action for even slight screw-ups. To put it bluntly, she should’ve taken the paranoia and ignorance of other people into account.
Of course, this is all hindsight. And the Catch-22 is that a good understanding of computers usually comes after making a few mistakes. But learning from the misfortunes of others is always good.
What do you think?
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Blame the system for running Windows, IE, and lack of a security suite that the former requires? Though really, there are so many ways of turning off (to various degrees) a computer… simply hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del (on networked Windows machines) usually brings up a blank log-in/off/lock screen.
Yep, there were so many ways to avoid the problem, but these are only available to people who know about them. Hopefully, this incident highlights to schools the importance of making sure their teachers are computer literate. At the very least, they’ll have less problems to contend with.