THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610190024
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: OPINION
SOURCE: ANN SJOERDSMA
LENGTH: 75 lines
For years, educators have been drilling into our thick heads why the public-education system is failing.
Uninvolved parents, lax academic and discipline standards, peer groups that mock high achievement, a society that glorifies anti-intellectualism.
And more.
But now the Clinton administration and some state educators are telling us we can fix all that with a little wiring.
I wish it were that easy.
With the election fast approaching, the White House has proposed giving every public grade school (about 100,000) and library (about 9,000) free basic access to the Internet. The nation's communications carriers collectively would pay for this near-impossible-to-administer plan.
This coming Saturday is ``NetDay'' in North Carolina. Public-school technology coordinators will be raising ``electronic barns,'' laying cable in schools, in preparation to cross the ``bridge to the 21st century.'' (Virginia has not succumbed to such a simplistic notion, though that day may be coming.)
California launched the first NetDay in March, shortly after the new telecommunications bill guaranteed public grade schools and libraries discounted rates for basic Internet connections. (Discounts that regulators have yet to work out.)
These are all nice tries. But they ain't gonna work.
I've been in that wasteland of instant information called the Internet. Much to my frustration. Trust me: Access to this congested, uncontrolled superhighway isn't going to cure what ails public education.
It may even hurt.
For months the Clinton-Gore campaign has been touting the Internet as an educational necessity. But wiring the nation's classrooms won't improve reading, writing or arithmetic skills, or any other fundamentals that lead to better-paying jobs and better lives.
It only leads to denial. Of real educational tools. Real teaching. And real learning.
Today's children need to learn computer skills. No question. And schools and libraries are providing this instruction.
But even more important, they need to learn to read - early - and to understand and use language. These are cornerstones of education. And of life. After this grounding, they can move on to math, science, history, literature, any body of knowledge.
Even computer programming.
The truth is anyone with the ability to think conceptually and read instructions can learn to navigate the Internet. It just takes time and a book or two. Ask a baby boomer. An e-mailing baby boomer.
Many of our schools are so old and dilapidated that it would be a joke to install cable wiring.
As for the cost of ``free'' access, you and I, cable and phone-company customers, would pick it up through increased rates. The tab for Internet connections, monthly charges, teacher training and computer equipment has been estimated at $109 billion over 10 years.
Considering that libraries are free, I don't much care for this new math.
For my money, the Internet spews out a lot of useless information, unauthenticated factoids, blowhard opinions and mindless ``entertainment.'' It makes children sedentary and isolated (adults can choose) when they should be active and involved with other people, learning to be social.
I also fear the effects of Internet-driven ``research'' (an oxymoron) on children's study habits and associative-thinking skills. History is fast disappearing in the Information Age. English is used for convenience, not expression.
The way I see it, the 21st century is merely the day after the 20th century ends, not cause for socioeconomic cataclysm. ``Surface knowledge,'' such as what's available on the Internet, won't enhance this nation's intellectual, social or cultural quotient.
But real, deep learning will. Starting with the basics. And that, as even computer illiterates know, begins at home. MEMO: Ms. Sjoerdsma is an editorial columnist and book editor of The
Virginian-Pilot. by CNB