Editing ICON (microcomputer) (section)

=== Cancellation ===

Throughout the project's lifetime it was subject to continual debate and much political rhetoric. A 1992 article on the topic complained:

<blockquote>Bette Stephenson favoured top-down decision making and as a result got trapped by her tunnel vision. Her ICON computer fiasco drained millions from the provincial
treasury and created a white elephant scorned by boards and shunned by teachers.... Computer resources were forced upon the school system as a result of a top-down government decision that was taken precipitously and without research.<ref name=m275>Mangan 1994, pg. 275</ref></blockquote>

The Ministry ceased all support for the ICON in 1994, making it [[orphaned technology]], and the [[Archives of Ontario]] declined to take ICON hardware and copies of the ICON software, which were destroyed.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} This was controversial in its own right, as others maintained that it could be sent to other schools that lacked extensive Information Technology. Despite the development of the ICON program, equality among schools was not assured because each school community could afford different capital outlays depending on the parents' affluence.