|
|
As schools get wired, teachers ask 'now what?'
November 7, 1996Web posted at: 111:59 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Louise Schiavone
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After several months of deliberations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing guidelines to make the Internet accessible to every school in the nation by the year 2000.
But what about the traditional tools of learning -- encyclopedias, the world atlas, the classics? Will they be pushed aside as the Internet takes hold, and are the nation's schools up to the challenge?
"The written word has been around for thousands of years, so I don't think it's ever going to be replaced," said teacher Lorie Quinn.
Added Clifford Stoll, author of "Silicon Snake Oil": "Why should a student pay attention in class when there's this magic multimedia machine just a few feet away to play with?"
The FCC Thursday endorsed a Clinton Administration plan to offer discounted Internet access subsidized by telecommunications companies, up to 90 percent off for severely disadvantaged areas.
The goal: to link all the nation's schools and libraries to the Internet by the turn of the century.
"It's also all about making sure everybody in America pull together to deliver communications services to everybody in America," said Reed Hundt, chairman of the FCC.
Only nine percent of the nation's classrooms have access to the internet; among private schools, it's four percent.
Financially, priorities are given to repairing crumbling schools and expanding the ones that are bursting at the seams.
After that comes computer modernization.
When the Rocky Hill Middle School in Maryland opened its doors less than two years ago, it was internet ready. The kids there feel pretty lucky.
"We can use all these different programs for our computers and be able to learn a lot more than other students around the country," said sixth-grader Alex Mitchell.
Teachers stress the importance of not being hypnotized by the fee whiz technology of the internet. Computers, they note, have become integral to education. But they are only a means to the essentials -- facts, ideas and experience.
Related stories:
- Site seer: That research paper was due when? - October 10, 1996
- Gore proposes special on-line rates for schools - June 29, 1996
- 2,000 California schools get wired - March 9, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser windowExternal sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
Tell us what you think! You said it... |
|
|
© 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.