People Are the Only Thing that Matter

This article describes how the Internet and the World Wide Web are formidable forces in the business and educational environments of today. Developed countries are adopting these technologies at a very rapid pace exposing the K-12 educational environments to them. But ultimately, the premise for real benefits to education will come to assume the following: wired Internet connectivity to the schools and the home; PCs in the schools and in the homes; Internet and PC use literacy for the students and the teachers; and, web-ready curriculum oriented content that works as part of well-established and proven pedagogical methods. With these as just one set of challenges, access is not at hand for those most in need of access to education.

This includes minority groups. According to our Department of Education, in the US only 14% of poor and minority classrooms are wired. Thus, even for developed countries, diminished resources, lack of educators, and safety in the schools are higher priority issues than figuring out how to make the Internet and the Web new vehicles for improved learning.

Based on this article, I see limited Internet access to educational resources as a benefit to education - for some. It can be argued that such efforts advance the field of distance learning and even our understanding of access requirements, even in under-developed nations and eventually making the benefits available to all. But we all know that what is coming out of the short efforts is driven by business opportunities, not universal access. I agree with the statement from the article "In the short term business matters more. But, when people don't matter in the short term, they will not matter at all. People are the only thing that matter."