ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603250109
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
YOU DON'T have to be a senior citizen to feel dimly out of it today when kids show off their superior knowledge of all things modern and with-it. Why, even President Clinton, 49-year-old baby boomer, concedes he wouldn't know Hootie and the Blowfish from Snoop Doggy Dogg if First Teen Chelsea didn't keep him updated. Reportedly Clinton can't do e-mail without asking Vice President Al Gore for help.
So three cheers for an initiative at Highland Park Learning Center, the elementary school cum magnet school in Roanoke city's Old Southwest, which is helping grandmothers and grandfathers become computer literate. Well, at least giving them a clue that when the grandkids talk about hard drive they don't mean their father's Oldsmobile.
One of those cheers is for the students - the oldest in the program is 81 - for having the interest and the courage. Hey, it's scary out there on the information highway. Make that two cheers for them.
The other must go to Highland Park's principal, John Lensch, for coming up with the program. It's not just about computers - the class could just as well be about the future of space travel, if the seniors were interested in making vacation plans well in advance.
It's also about re-creating a sense of community in neighborhoods, and bridging generation gaps. What better way than to open public schools in the evenings and on weekends for multipurpose use by all of a community's residents?
Of course, not all schools have the advantage Highland Park's does, with its wealth of computer technology accumulated for the school's magnet program. Even so, it's a good idea that, in general terms and with some flexibility, could be emulated elsewhere.
Schools like Highland Park Elementary once helped give neighborhoods their community core and identity. They can again, by becoming centers of activity for those of all ages, from kids needing after-school programs so they won't have to return to empty homes, to elderly residents who may have helped build the schools in the first place with their tax dollars. Perhaps years ago they went to the school for PTA meetings, and have missed the neighborhood connection since their own children grew up and moved away.
One side benefit for public education: This sort of use gives older residents another reason to support schools - helping them to keep in touch not just with newfangled technology, but with neighbors living around them.
Recent years have seen an outpouring of ideas for making more use of school buildings and converting them into community centers. It would be nice if more such ideas, like Highland Park Learning Center's, were implemented.
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