"Technology"? "Computer Technology", or "Office Skills"???

The confusion that is being promoted in this dialog and many others about "Technology" is very destructive and wholly unnecessary.  Please consider the following glossary:
*instructional technology:  technology used to assist an instructor in delivering course content.
*computer applications:  courses designed to help students learn to use computers for common tasks.
*computer technology:  study of the design, operation, and management of computers and computer networks.
*technology: the entirety of skills, knowledge, and techniques to fashion solutions to meet the needs of humankind and society.

Let's make sure the Master Plan does not fall prey to the misuse of terms.  The conseqences are severe:  educators offering computer applications only often, even usually, THINK that they have a "technology" program!

"Technology" as used in these dialogs is a misnomer:  it is used specifically and most commonly to refer to programs to teach students how to use computers.  NOT how they work or how to repair or manage them.  Such programs, similar to using curricular time to teach students in the '50s to use a slide rule or students in the '60s to use a calculator, should be closed completely and immediately in the public schools, and all such 'computer use education' should be brought/integrated into the subject areas including mathematics, science, writing/English, and the humanities.  A shocking solution, perhaps, but necessary and vital.

>First, Technology Education is a comprehensive, extensive, multi-entry system of education that prepares all students with technology literacy, career awareness, and career skills at a variety of grade levels concentrating in the middle and high schools.  This system has been allowed to atrophy in our state since 1978 with serious consequences, and more to come.

>Second, Computer Technology is the study of how computers work and interconnect, are managed, and controlled by hardware and software systems.  This is an important area of study but it is NOT 'technology education', only a small subset of it.

>Third, computer classes in the public schools are dominated by lab-based courses in which students learn to format diskettes, open a word processor and write a paper, and create a spreadsheet and use a database (maybe).  Such courses are being offered widely because:
>> almost any teacher can learn enough about computers to teach this rudimentary stuff
>> it looks modern and state-of-the-art and attracts public attention
>> every student in every course can benefit from the use of computers

The problem is that these courses take valuable time away from real academics and real technology courses, while teaching NO underlying content.  In fact, such courses OFTEN are developed in labs previously occupied by REAL technology labs such as those for CAD, manufacturing, electronics, auto, etcetera.  And those schools still report that they have a "technology program"!

There is a high school north of San Francisco that bills itself as a "Technology" High School.  Surprisingly, there is not a single form of technology taught there other than the use of computers.  No robotics, no electronics, no computer-aided design and drafting, no manufacturing, no instrumentation or motor repair, and NO education for a real workplace.