To no one’s surprise, the Federal Communications Commissio (FCC) believes “that many schools do not have the bandwidth necessary to take full advantage of digital learning technologies. Authors Peter Cohen and Jeff Livingston say building out that bandwidth would “hold the promise of substantially improving educational experiences and expanding opportunity for students, teachers, parents and whole communities.”
Cohen, President of publishing giant McGraw-Hill’s School Education Group, and Livingston, Senior Vice President of Military Policy at McGraw-Hill, go so far as to issue a challenge. They contend that “The issue of broadband access—specifically, access that is strong and equal whether you live in Appalachia, Newark, New Jersey, or Silicon Valley—is a moral and economic imperative to ensuring that our students are ready for the world that awaits.”
Take a look at these shocking statistics: 94% of public schools current have internet connections of some sort (either hardwired or wifi), but that high number is incredibly deceptive because in many of them, access is limited to a single computer lab, a library or an administrative office. That means only 39% of public schools and 50% of classrooms currently offer wireless network access for the whole school.
It’s probably safe to say that those schools are found in the nation’s wealthiest districts, exacerbating the digital divide between rich and poor. Surprisingly, Cohen and Livingston believe the problem isn’t money, but apathy.
Richard Culatta, of the US Department of Education, goes even further. According to Cohen and Livingston, he thinks “Angry mobs of parents should be storming schools with pitchforks over this critical issue of broadband access.”
Luckily, parents may not need those pitchforks if President Obama gets his way. His ConnectED initiative hopes to bring near universal broadband access to America’s schools.
“The average American school has about the same bandwidth as the average American home,” President Obama stated, “even though obviously there are 200 times as many people at school as there are at home.”
A U.S. Commerce Department study shows that low-income and less-educated families own fewer computers and adopt broadband far less than average Americans. The same is true in schools. Another study indicates that 56% of teachers in disadvantaged schools say the lack of internet access is a “major challenge” to their teaching and, therefore, to their students’ ability to learn.
The President’s ConnectED plan would bring affordable digital access to all eligible schools and libraries. Various FCC initiatives had helped increase internet-enabled schools to 94% by 2005 and the Obama plan hopes to increase it to 99% within five years. But to reiterate the point we made earlier, 99% of schools does not mean 99% of classrooms.
Cohen and Livingston agree that the President will “help” get our schools on the internet, but they urge the FCC to get to work “to lay the actual cable and make good on that promise.”
They conclude on an ominous note:
“Not doing so would make us all complicit in what could otherwise be considered one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century.”
Here at CheapInternet.com, we look forward to working with Cohen and Livingston and the Federal Communications Commission and offer them our full support.
Source: qz.com
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