In Defense of a Comprehensive View of Computer Literacy—A Reply to Luehrmann

Abstract

In Arthur Luehrmann's critique of our February 1980 Mathematics Teacher article on computer literacy objectives, he proposes a rather narrow view of literacy. Despite his claim, there are two (not just one) generally accepted definitions of literacy. One is, as he points out, the ability to communicate, for example, reading and writing; and the other, which he neglects, is the state of being informed, “cultured,” and well versed. Whereas the first is a subset of the second, both definitions are commonly used. It is not surprising that the term computer literacy shares the semantic ambiguity of language literacy. The narrow view is that computer literacy is simply a matter of doing things with a computer. The comprehensive view is that computer literacy is an understanding of computers that enables one; to evaluate computer applications as well as to do things with them.