Is computers in schools the answer to the IT skills drought?

Darren Pauli

There's probably no better way to break down Gen Y's perception that a career in IT is boring and fit only for nerds than to give each one of them a computer and make them use it. I refer to the government's computers-for-schools initiative, which I believe is one of the better plans set forth by our government amid a conundrum of malaprop child-protecting, zero-day detecting, fibre-to-98-percent-of-Australia political folly.

Most IT pros I have met begun their foray into IT by manipulating, breaching and bypassing something they shouldn't have, and there is no denying that a step-by-step video guide of how to circumvent whatever security system schools put in place on their government-issued laptops will be uploaded to YouTube within 24 hours.

But this is all good news.

Giving students laptops is a brilliant, albeit expensive, way to spread IT proficiency within our younger generations and, optimistically, may build Australia's prominence as a serious international player for IT innovation and investment.

That is, if they don't trash the laptops.