Saturday, June 17, 2006

One of the Stronger Justifications for a Metro Nashville Public Wi-Fi

Our children are at a disadvantage compared to others. Less than 50% have home internet access.

A Williamson County administrator says, "[Williamson County's 89% student internet access] shows that parents value the ability for the children to have information at their fingertips." Or it may show that Williamson County parents have more disposable income per capita than Davidson County parents, who value the ability for their children to have the same information no less than Williamson County parents.

7 comments:

  1. wifi wont help if the families dont have a computer. how do we address that need?

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  2. Allow students to check out public school laptops from schools like they do books from the library.

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  3. . . . and when the laptops don't get returned? Who's going to pay? Certainly not the parents who couldn't afford to buy a computer in the first place.

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  4. Metro children are worth the risk of the loss of a couple of laptops. Producing an educated generation is financially costly. But I know that risk is something that anonymous commenters don't appreciate. That's why they remain anonymous.

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  5. and risk is easy to take when you are spending someone else's money

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  6. I have a very wise friend at work who reminds us often - 'it's easy to find the 99 ways to make something not work, let's look for the one way that does work'.

    The technology for 'wi-fi-ing' the city works. I'm sure we can come up with a way to get laptops to the kids that don't have access.

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  7. How about this alternative - Larger computer lab areas within libraries (school and public) and increased hours of operation. While not as user friendly as a kid having access at home, it doesnt require building wifi or the nightmares of "checking out" expensive equipment with the inherent issues of loss, damage, technical support that comes with the program.

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