At schools with sub-par internet, kids face a poor connection with modern life.
We need a public internet for the same reason we needed a public post office. Otherwise there are communities across the country that are deemed too unprofitable to serve.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/at-schools-with-sub-par-internet-kids-face-a-poor-connection-with-modern-life/2016/04/22/798c9882-07d1-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html
Monroe Intermediate, a K-8 school in rural Alabama, is a tech dinosaur only because it has little choice, sitting in an impoverished community of churches and trailer homes that telecom companies have little financial incentive to wire. Over the last decade and a half, corporations including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have laid cabling that is capable of transmitting high-speed Internet across much of urban and suburban America. But educators say there is a problem: The companies have essentially finished building in every area where they believe they can profit. And several thousand of America’s schools sit outside these zones, according to EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit organization that measures Internet access in classrooms.
Staffers at Monroe Intermediate School display tablets that work fine — when they’re not connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, service is spotty and can be out for hours or weeks. The experience of students at Monroe Intermediate shows how the financial decisions of telecom companies have put rural students at a disadvantage, leaving some without basic digital abilities that many in America take for granted. Federal regulators are working toward a fix for these out-of-reach of schools, but it’s unclear to what extent these efforts will solve the problem.
The schools with sub-par Internet are scattered around the country, spanning from the far-flung communities of Alaska to the desert towns of New Mexico. The danger is that students who attend these schools will struggle for years with the critical tasks that now require online fluency: applying to colleges, researching papers, looking for jobs.
SNIP
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