[jackbill]

Do we, for example, really want to teach people to do a lot of sums or write in "a fine round hand" when they have a $5 hand-held calculator or a word processor to work with?

And what happens when the battery runs out, or the power fails?

I was in a major drugstore several months ago. The computerized cashregister went up and the clerks stopped making sales. The damned store shut down.

Needless to say, I've never gone back.

[Bob]

I was in a major drugstore several months ago. The computerized cashregister went up and the clerks stopped making sales. The damned store shut down.

You want a real kick? Buy something for $4.77 and give the clerk $5.02 to pay for it. Watch in amazement as the clerk is initially confused by the two cents and then realizes (after the cash register does the math) that you magically get a quarter back. Just how are people able to do that?