To survive in the society of tomorrow, a person is going to need to be able to find, evaluate, and use information. To succeed, he or she will need to be able to use the internet and every other resource that is available to him/her. This means that it is time that we started helping the children to use the internet effectively. One of the greatest challenges of education, with regards to the internet, will be to teach the students not just how to access information, but to teach the students to become discriminating learners. They need to evaluate what they are reading as to who wrote the article and why it what written in order for them to judge the reliability of what they are reading. They are only going to be able to do this through practice.

We, as teachers, need to help the students of today learn how to survive in world of information. We need to change the way we teach in order to help the students become effective information users. We must learn how to give them more and more use of a variety of technology types and we need to give them the skills to use them. This is one of the greatest challenges teachers have faced. Many are afraid to change the way they teach, or are unprepared themselves for the information age ahead of us. The time for change is NOW!

One of the major roles of the teacher is to help students to know where their boundaries are: what can and can't they do. This means that the students need to learn what they can and cannot do on the internet. They have to be taught that they have the responsibility to use the net properly. They have to be taught what the consequences for improper behavior is -- everywhere, the internet included. They need to know there are sites that are not proper for them to use. They need to know that they need to be careful what they say and do on the internet because it is public domain. We need to instill in the children the idea of fairness -- that it's not fair to use someone else's work without their permission or at least acknowledging them. They need to be taught that words are precious.

The Net is a powerful tool that can help our kids become better members of the worldwide community. The Net can be a huge benefit to schools. It can link students to peers and information, and that it can help break social barriers. tool, not the total curriculum.

It is time for education to move forward and to find a new model of education -- one that involves the teacher, students, and technology working together to build a complete education. Teachers need to step back and become more of a facilitator than they have in the past. The internet is an important part of this process. The internet opens up the world to those who learn how to use it. The person using the internet is not bound by walls, race, handicap, distance, or time. The endless amount of information, resources, and communication abilities have only just begun to be tapped.

In order for the internet, or any of the rest of the technology, to help, it must be used. Children across America, even the world, will one day be linked. This can only happen if they have access to computers and the internet now. Everyone -- rich or poor; red, brown, white or black; disabled, Catholic or Jew -- EVERYONE should have access the world through the internet. Now is the time start toward that goal so that everyone will have the opportunity to compete in the world of tomorrow.