[1352] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
K-12 and the "interim" NREN
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Janet Murray)
Tue Sep 17 03:38:48 1991
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 91 22:43:24 PDT
From: Janet.Murray@f23.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Janet Murray)
To: com-priv@psi.com
School is back in session in the northern hemisphere, and for
those of us who actually work in K-12 schools, it's been hectic
as usual. [That's another way of saying I'm _way_ behind in
reading com-priv.]
However, I was glad to see several recent messages addressing
the needs of K-12 users, in particular (quoting Laura Breeden
in a message of September 16th):
> Among the areas
> we have identified are improving user services, raising the
> visibility of our members, and bringing new communities into
> the networking arena (K-12 is a good example).
There are a number of educators who are _very_ interested
in K-12 applications of NREN legislation, and _very_ fearful
of the implications of commercialization and privatization as
it will be applied to potential access for K-12 schools.
Many of them are members of the Consortium for School
Networking.
My "fear" is that access will be effectively restricted by
both cost factors and hardware requirements. Many (if not
most) K-8 schools in the U.S. are equipped with Apple ][
computers, and even high schools (while they may have MS-DOS
compatible machines) have difficulty obtaining phone lines
for modems.
It seems logical (to me) that a major national legislative
initiative such as NREN _should_ address the needs of K-12
users, because the students we train today will be the leaders
of tomorrow. We are in danger of fostering serious inequities
in educational opportunities if we allow marketing forces to
dictate who does, and who does _not_, have access to information.
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