second week thoughts

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There has been much information, almost an overload, to deal with this
week.  For my part I am trying to struggle through the submissions to the
FCC by the Florida PSC, Florida Cable TV Assn., and anything else from
Florida that is relevant. to the Universal Fund topic. It is a difficult
task, but similar to the one facing all of us: large groups which can
afford legal staffs can submit information that is almost impossible to
understand, given the twists and turns they make to place themselves at an
advantage whenever a final decision is made (final until the first lawsuit,
that is).

   I wonder how successful the approach is, from anybody's point of view,
which discusses so many "trees" at the expense of the" forest."  No doubt
that the FCC will defend its view in language equally formidable, and
equally confusing in many instances.  For me some posters to this seminar
have managed to see the "forest" and as an veteran former teacher I applaud
their view.

   For in the long run no matter how universal the hook-up is, no matter
how fair the cost is, and how good the training, you are still left with
the problem of a non-universal theme in U.S. education.  When I left
teaching my high school in Massachusetts was just beginning to train
teachers and it became a server around the same time. Today, two years
later, they have every room in every school hooked to the Net, and
teachers/administrators email back and forth at will.  That's really great,
and I know from reading postings here that this is not an unusual case.

  However, my former school is suffering from over-crowding, a curriculum
that is fairly regularly changed ( for what reason I cannot fathom) and
what seems to be a lack of universality in its approach to curriculum
development.  Which leads me back to where I started.  No matter how the
Information Highway is instituted it will still be only as good as the
curriculum it serves.  It is a tool, not the omega of educational
philosophy.

If we were to look to Germany and Japan for some pointers we might well
find that the tool promised by universal funding could be more rapidly and
successfully achieved.

Back to the "trees."

cal branche
chair, Pasco County (FL)
Telecommunications Comm.

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