Why is computer literacy mandatory

The fundamental purpose of higher education is the preparation of students for their future careers. If graduates of today and tomorrow are to flourish in the modern, fastpaced high-tech world, they must be information and technology literate.

The fundamental purpose of higher education is the preparation of students for their future careers. If graduates of today and tomorrow are to flourish in the modern, fastpaced high-tech world, they must be information and technology literate. The means of acquiring these skills must be imbedded in student learning and be part and parcel of their develop and maintain a robust information technology infrastructure. Unfortunately no consensus exists as to what the label “computer literate's should imply. The difficulty in both defining computer literacy and designing a satisfactory computer literacy course is evident by both the frequency of change and experimentation occurring at many institutions and by the tons of textbooks that exist for such a course. It seems as though every educator has some opinion about “computer literacy.

The need for computer literacy and the requirements of it are undergoing a significant paradigm shift over the last decade. Only once before, when personal computers made many software applications available to the general public, did the idea of computer literacy change significantly. The idea of thin clients using Internet-based applications did not succeed in the past partly because of sluggish dial-up connections. So, PC-based productivity software flourished. Now high speed (DSL and cable modem) and wireless connections, and the ubiquity of a variety of communication technologies are prompting significant changes.

We now find that students, as they enter college, are proficient in many of the applications considered essential by a functional definition of computer literacy. This is forcing information system faculties to ask the question: “What do we teach in computer literacy courses now? as Many faculty members in the colleges of Business seem unsure of what should be taught and why. Many faculty members argue that this course should not even be offered at the college level because high schools throughout the country offered similar courses. Many college students now enter schools of Business with one or more high school credits in courses that teach Microsoft Office or similar software. We propose to conduct an exploratory survey to determine the extent to which the colleges of Business continue to offer computer literacy courses and whether they foresee a need for this course in the future. We propose to survey 400 colleges nation-wide to determine how many business colleges require computer literacy courses, what they are currently covering in these courses, and what they are expecting to cover in the future. Most of the Business Colleges/Universities are expecting students to demonstrate proficiency with Office productivity software and has offered courses designed to enhance skills with programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.

Pc's In Our Society -  Since nearly 99% of all jobs available in Advance countries like America have something that deals with computers. .
The reason computer literacy is so important in a society of this day and age is because there are so many opportunities available to people who know and understand computers, and the people who don't understand this technology are setting themselves up for failure. According to a recent study by Business Weekly it is stated that 96% of all employees in America have either used or will use some form of computers within the next few years. That being said it is hard to imagine entering the working world not knowing anything about how to use a computer or how to run and, or navigate basic applications such as Microsoft's Windows, Microsoft's Office, and how to use an email account.

Business Weekly also notes that computers are by no means just a fad but they are here to stay, and it is important that we adapt to them if we want to be successful not only at our jobs but also throughout our careers.
Programming engages students

Programming has real-world applications that have relevance to kids' lives. Instead of labeling their enthusiasm for computers as disruptive or aberrant behavior, we should harness it as an educational tool. By integrating computer literacy into school curriculum from an early age, we would give students a learning experience that more accurately reflects the modern world around them.

Equally important, mainstreaming the teaching of programming would shed the antisocial stigma associated with computer literacy. Girls in particular would be much more likely to take an interest in computing if doing so wasn't the social equivalent of joining the Chess Club. Even if they didn't go on to careers in IT, the basic skills they would learn would be applicable later in life to everything from Excel spreadsheets to troubleshooting system crashes.

Where traditional math problems can be unforgiving, programming languages like Python or JavaScript offer students interactive environments that encourage them to explore and experiment. The immediate feedback they receive when they solve problems gives them individual encouragement and positive reinforcement -- things that textbooks alone can't provide.The problem isn't that computers don't fit with the standard educational curriculum. The problem is that the curriculum hasn't evolved to incorporate the realities of the Internet Age.