The paper relates the uptake of computer-based education in schools to the socio-cultural pattern operating in the school.It is suggested that innovational disseminators must become involved in the behaviour and communication pattern of the school if they are to successfully introduce their innovation. The need for the user to perceive personal benefits and the need to involve local leadership in introducing an innovation is emphasized.A 1979 Carnegie Commission Report suggests that the education industry is currently sitting on the brink of its first technological revolution in five centuries-the revolution of the new electronics. According to this report, three major revolutions in education have already taken place.The first three revolutions were marked by the introduction and adaptation of the written word: the use of textbooks that followed the invention of movable type: and the implementation of universal public education. The fourth revolution can facilitate attainment of universal public education by introducing technology associated with electronic communication and data processing systems. However, few educational institutions have availed themselves of this opportunity.This paper deals with general concepts of planned culture change that could reduce education's resistance to technological change. Ethnographic parallels are utilized to demonstrate the use of the principles of culture change and technological innovation in the culture of the schools. The cultural significance of a toolA rather dramatic example of how changes in technology can have devastating effects upon the social system is provided by a study of the Yir Yoront, a tribe of Australian aborigines (Sharp, 1952).The Yir Yoront maintained their stone-age technology and culture because they lived in almost total isolation from western influences until the early 1900s. The indiscriminate introduction of steel axes by missionaries resulted in serious weakening of the tribe's traditions.The stone axe was a symbol of masculinity, status, and authority. It was an extremely important tool in almost all daily tasks. Since only males could make and own axes, women and children had to borrow them along kinship lines. This practice defined and maintained a deeply imbedded system of status, sex, and role. The stone axe also contributed to inter-tribal affairs since an elaborate trading system moved stone axe heads from the south to the north for sting-ray spears made near the coast by the Yir Yoront.The missionaries made steel axes available to women and children, If a male wanted to use a steel axe, he had to either borrow from women and children, or he had to obtain his own axe from the missionaries. Missionaries were quite capricious in their