In "Educational Computing: Learning with Tomorrow's Technologies", Maddux, Johnson, and Willis (1997) decribe how Scott, Cole, and Engle (1992) overview the way of critical theorist views educational computing.

The authors argue that any approach to educational computing must consider the historical and social context of use as well as the cultural implications of what is taught. The critical theory perspective of Scott, Cole, and Engle has solid connections to Marxist and neo-Marxist scholarship in curriculum theory and educational philosophy (Friere, 1985; Apple, 1991). It interprets the use of technology in the schools through a filter of concern about the purpose and function of all social institutions, with a particular emphasis on social class issues, worker-capitalist relations, and questions of control and power. Scott, Cole, and Engle (1992), for example, introduce their history of educational computing in the United States by asserting that the use of electronic computers began in the military establishment and that the military remains the most important organization promoting research in computer-based education. They conclude, "Our own view is that one needs to be suspicious of educational technology that embodies presupposed fixed tasks and goals and a restricted range of social arrangements of a top-down, authoritarian nature." In their review the authors deal with many questions that also concern scholars who work from other theoretical perspectives; equity issues, gender issues, the definition of computer literacy, differences in the type of computer experiences offered poor and well-to-do children, overblown promises that cannot possibly be fulfilled, and the undue influence of commercial vendors on school curriculum through sales of ILS.

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