12597. COMPUTERS IN THE CLASSROOM: IS THE INVESTMENT REALLY WORTH IT. This paper takes a critical look at the current enthusiasm among politicians, business leaders and educational leaders for computer technology as a solution to the problems in public education quality and efficiency. The investigation begins with an overview of the politics of computers in education and the major arguments on both sides of the debate. The analysis then profiles the current status of computer technology in public education (at the K-12 level), examining issues of access, use and equity and considering the evidence on the effectiveness of educational technology. Concludes that the promises of educational technology have yet to be met and that computer have been vastly over-sold as a magic bullet to correct the problems and limitations of the existing system of public education. 12 pages, 41 footnotes in text, 25 bibliographic sources.