I've been reading every goddamn plan I can find about restarting schools in the fall and they're all a mad mix of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Hunger Games -- The Cuckoo Games!
Instead, there's a better way to navigate the pandemic while keeping our children safe, engaged, and educated. It's not the ideal approach (considering our many parallel and tangential concerns), but there's a way to do this while also creating a parity across the many divides:
A new Chromebook (or other cheap but effective computer) for all 56 million students in America would cost about $11,144,000,000 (retail). According to the FCC, a National Broadband Plan could cost as little as $20,000,000,000. To put these numbers in a type of head spinning perspective, Jeff Bezos' net worth is $166,300,000,000 and the U.S. defense budget is $721,531,000,000 (for 2020) -- a nationwide network would be pittance in comparison. Think about the manufacturing jobs this country-wide endeavor would generate. Think about all the newly trained builders and technicians and... Think about the many opportunities universal WiFi would create for our children!
Nothing will replace the actual classroom; however, it's time for the Ol' U. S. of A. to meet the virtual needs of Gen Z. I'm not suggesting that this will be easy; but I am suggesting that there are ways forward.
Forward!
Instead, there's a better way to navigate the pandemic while keeping our children safe, engaged, and educated. It's not the ideal approach (considering our many parallel and tangential concerns), but there's a way to do this while also creating a parity across the many divides:
A new Chromebook (or other cheap but effective computer) for all 56 million students in America would cost about $11,144,000,000 (retail). According to the FCC, a National Broadband Plan could cost as little as $20,000,000,000. To put these numbers in a type of head spinning perspective, Jeff Bezos' net worth is $166,300,000,000 and the U.S. defense budget is $721,531,000,000 (for 2020) -- a nationwide network would be pittance in comparison. Think about the manufacturing jobs this country-wide endeavor would generate. Think about all the newly trained builders and technicians and... Think about the many opportunities universal WiFi would create for our children!
Nothing will replace the actual classroom; however, it's time for the Ol' U. S. of A. to meet the virtual needs of Gen Z. I'm not suggesting that this will be easy; but I am suggesting that there are ways forward.
Forward!
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