ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240015
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Cal Thomas
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
SINCE THE turbulent 1960s, the battle over how and where we educate the next generation's children has centered on public vs. private schools, and whether such education ought to be totally secular or include universal moral ideals.
This has inevitably led to arguments over intellectual soundness vs. fuzzy-headed liberalism, the history of Western thought and culture vs. multiculturalism, and traditional values vs. situational ethics. Also at issue is whether public funds should be used for private schools, either through direct payments or indirect subsidies, such as school vouchers.
Several states and cities are experimenting with ``school choice'' initiatives, allowing tax dollars to follow children to the school of their choice. These face intense opposition from the monopolistic education establishment. The National Education Association and other supporters of government schools realize that if they lose this battle, the war to turn the hearts and minds of another generation in the direction of liberal, human-centered ideas is lost.
But what if there were a third way, one that does not rely on permission or tax dollars from the government, or large amounts of private money to subsidize nonpublic education? I have seen the classroom of the future, and it is in space.
LINC (Live Interactive Network Classroom) is being developed at Bob Jones University, a Christian school in Greenville, S.C., with an unearned reputation of being intellectually retarded. LINC is about to prove otherwise.
For LINC, the classroom setting can be a home school or inside a more traditional building. The teacher is in a small television studio. Daily lessons are transmitted by satellite from the studio to receiving dishes at participating schools and homes. Students see the teacher and data on a screen. An adult ``facilitator'' is in the classroom. The lessons are presented so that the material can be used in each time zone. For those who prefer even greater flexibility, lessons are available on videotape.
The LINC is completely interactive. Students communicate with the teacher using a one-touch Viewer Response Device, which looks something like an electronic hand-held game or calculator. Students can ask questions of the teacher through a microphone in the unit. They ``raise'' their hands through an electronic icon that alerts the teacher to a questioner. All students across the country hear the discussion between the teacher and student live.
A master computer organizes the questions, even pop quizzes, and gives almost instant results. Within seconds the teacher knows whether the information presented is understood.
LINC provides state-of-the-art satellite receiving equipment, wiring and the response keypads for a 10-month service fee of $990 per month. The only items the host school needs are a television monitor and two telephone lines for data and voice interaction. The cost of private education can be as high as $10,000 or more per pupil per year.
The wealthy will always be able to afford the best private education, but LINC can free the middle class, and especially the poor, from their bondage to government schools. As an all-in-one resource, it can maintain the highest standards in foreign languages, math and science, as well as advanced subjects, such as physics, that are not always available in private education. For those who can't afford LINC in their homes, a church or other setting would decrease per-pupil costs.
Currently, LINC serves about 1,000 students in 75 high schools, mostly in the Northeast, the Chicago area and between Los Angeles and Sacramento, though its signal is available in 48 states. The goal is to be in 200 schools by the end of the year.
The potential seems unlimited. LINC could also be designed for elementary schools, though director Jim Dickson tells me it would require a more active role for local facilitators, given the behavior and attention patterns of young children.
To those who worry about the loss of ``socialization'' and other supposed benefits of the current system, let them, if they wish, remain where they are. LINC could eventually allow all parents the freedom to choose what they believe is best for their children, at a reasonable price, and without the indoctrination that passes for education in the current intellectually and spiritually closed system all must subsidize.
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB