The Uses of Computers in Education
The h l g e informution-processing cupcities of c o m p u t e n m u k e it possible to use them to adapt mechanical teaching routines t o the needs and the p u s t p e r f o r m a n c e o f the indi(~idLm1 student by Patrick Suppes

s other articles inthis issue make abundantly clear, both the - processing andthe uses of information areundergoinganunprecedented technological revolution. Not only are machines able deal now to with many kinds of information at high speedand in largequantitiesbut also it is possible to manipulate these quantities of information so as to benefit from them in entirely novel mays. This is perhapsnowheretruerthaninthe field of education. One can predict that in a few more years millions of schoolchildren will have access to what Philip of hlacedon’s son Alexander enjoyed as a royal prerogative: the personal services of a tutor as well-informed and responsive as Aristotle. The basis for this seemingly extravagant prediction is not apparent in many examinations of the computer’srole in education today. In themselves, howel’er, such examinations provide impressive evidence of the importance of computers on the educational scene, As an example, a recent report of the National Academy of Sciences states that by mid1965 more than 800 computers were in service on the campuses of various American universities and these that institutions spent $175 nillion for computers that year. The report goes on to forecast that by 1968 the universities’ annual budget for computer operations will reach $300 million andthattheir

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total investment in computing facilities will pass $500 million. A similar example is representedby the fact that most colleges of engineeringandevenmanyhigh schools now use computers to train students in computer programming. Perhaps just as important as the imposition of formal course requirements