Luxury or necessity? Eleven-year-old James High pondered the meaning of

each word. He considered the personal computer in front of him before

answering the question.

"It's sort of both," said High, a sixth-grader at Stonewall Middle

School.

When he and others at the James Paige Learning Center use a computer to

change the screensaver or to play Hearts, that's a luxury.

But some people need computers for their work, and that makes

them a necessity, he said.

He hopes to get one at home soon. He will use it to play games,

which is a luxury. But he will also use it to type and to print things for

homework.

Homework, unfortunately, is a necessity. But he and his classmates

could always do it the old-fashioned way. They could look up sharks and

mammals, rocks and wars in the regular encyclopedia, and copy facts into

their own words. If you think of it that way, a computer is not so

But they are, says Pat Fot, director of the YWCA's Child Enrichment

Center.

Starting in elementary school, students are expected to research

topics and to write about what they learn.

"You want the most current information, and that's not necessarily in

books in the library, but on the computer," Fot said.

The child with a computer at home can find all this information, plus

Luxury or necessity? Eleven-year-old James High pondered the meaning of

each word. He considered the personal computer in front of him before

answering the question.

"It's sort of both," said High, a sixth-grader at Stonewall Middle

School.

When he and others at the James Paige Learning Center use a computer to

change the screensaver or to play Hearts, that's a luxury.

But some people need computers for their work, and that makes

them a necessity, he said.

He hopes to get one at home soon. He will use it to play games,

which is a luxury. But he will also use it to type and to print things for

homework.

Homework, unfortunately, is a necessity. But he and his classmates

could always do it the old-fashioned way. They could look up sharks and

mammals, rocks and wars in the regular encyclopedia, and copy facts into

their own words. If you think of it that way, a computer is not so

But they are, says Pat Fot, director of the YWCA's Child Enrichment

Center.

Starting in elementary school, students are expected to research

topics and to write about what they learn.

"You want the most current information, and that's not necessarily in

books in the library, but on the computer," Fot said.

The child with a computer at home can find all this information, plus

become comfortable with a tool he or she will encounter later in life.

"You'd be surprised at how many kids do not have access to the

Internet," said Fot.

The U.S. Department of Commerce found that 93.8 percent of American

households have telephones. Thirty-six percent have home computers,

and 18.6 percent have Internet access.

Electronic mail access has increased almost 400 percent since

1994, according to the 1999 report "Falling through the Net II."

But the divide between computer haves and have-nots has grown since

1994.

People in rural areas and inner cities, poor families, black families

and those headed by young parents or by single mothers are less likely to

have computers and Internet access at home, compared to

other families.

Computers, as well as Internet access, are not luxuries,

have access, everyone should have access.

It's the same standard she applies to books, newspapers and magazines

in a democratic society. Such a system relies on an informed, educated

population, with easy access to information.

More and more, these days, information is available online.

"If you don't have that access, you're going to be

disenfranchised," Wright said.