Tiong is not worried about the negative influences of the Net. In fact, he believes that by exposing them to the Web, he will create a breed of people who are critical and alert in dealing with information unlike past generations of students who were merely taught to memorize textbooks.
"You can avoid computers but you cannot avoid information," said Tiong.
In future, he added, students will access resources on the Net to complete their homework and the teachers' role is to authenticate if the information presented is factual.
"This will force teachers to get online to verify data to correct students' work. The technology is driving the school and the old way of doing things is gone, whether we like it or not," said Tiong.
Over time, technology may obsolete teachers who have a monopoly over education today. "When parents realize they can guide their children to learn through the Web in the safety of their homes, teachers will have a real challenge in hand," he said.
Yet skeptics question the effect of unmitigated digital flow on malleable young minds.
They fear that the Internet will create a generation of anti-social and dysfunctional adults more interested in bomb making and pornography.
Noted author of "Growing Up Digital", Don Tapscott, has stated that for the majority of teenagers the Internet is a positive experience. From his surveys he discovered that teenagers are not sitting passively--like in front of a TV set-- but are interacting, thinking and analyzing information when they are online.
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