Internet: It's America's Five Year Plan.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Obama gave his State of the Union speech, which was enhanced with slides for the first time ever.
While many topics were touched upon and lofty goals were set (quite a number of which won't even be near realized even if Obama serves another term), the ones that caught our eye had to do with technology.
The USA is vast, and its population is spread out. Unlike a nation like Japan or Korea, covering an entire country with a similar level of internet and wireless service is a considerably more difficult undertaking. (Canada faces the same challenges, but the vast majority of its population lives in the southern part of the country.
Obama set the goal to blanket 98 percent of the U.S. population with high-speed wireless coverage. He did not specify if this would be done through investments from AT&T, Verizon, or other carriers, nor did he reveal how many G's this wireless coverage would have. He did say:
"Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do."
"Within the next five years, we will make it possible for business to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98% of all Americans. This isn't just about a faster internet and fewer dropped calls. It's about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It's about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It's about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device; a student who can take classes with a digital textbook; or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor."
Check out Gizmodo for a pretty good choice of clippings from Obama's speech. One that we particularly liked was:
"We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair."
At whose expense?
By what right?
//TILT//
Agreed.
Michelle Obama, "Instead ask yourself, what would Carl Marx do?"
Joe Biden "1000 memebers of the Rebublican empire will descend upon you!"
Barrack Obama "We will stand, and give it all away!"
Glen Beck "America, tonight we dine, In the soup kitchen (with free wifi)!"
I am sorry for that, I just had to. For the record I am an independant (not the party, i just make up my own mind myself).
Just offer lifetime, nation wide, free, wireless access for a onetime advance donation of $200.00.
In general the education system as a whole is failing. This mostly has to do with holding students that excel back and students who fail pushing them forward when they should be held back. While History and English could be improved upon, that isn't the major problem in US schools.
The US is now embarrassingly far behind in Math and Sciences. These are easily the most important part of education today.
In 2006, in the US, less than 12% of bachelor graduates are engineers. Compare this to the rest of the world. Germany, Sweden, and Finland are over 25%. Korea is over 37% engineer graduates. Japan over 24%.
By comparison, in the US, over 25% of graduates are that of the Social Sciences! Over 16% PSYCHOLOGY!!!
No sir, you are wrong. I would say that if anything, we focus too much on Social Sciences in K-12. We do not focus on the Math and Sciences enough, this is what is hurting the US. This is why we are no longer the innovators in the world. This is why we produce less scientific papers.
Math and Science SHOULD be his focus, not History and English.
but in reality everyone knows we cant get anything passed with a two party system. So everything Presidents say is pretty much a pipe-dream.
All education is a joke, IMHO, but then how do you handle the needs of the individual? It would be great if someone came up with an educational system that worked.
Then again, the education system is, IMHO, a symptom of a far larger problem.
Back on topic, I support "internet access in every pot."
At this point, I think our national debt is more important than the education. Unless, of course, you like being indebted to China.
Can you show a linear graph or data set of somesort that correlates education expenditures and increased proficiency in learning or test scores?
Thank you in advance.
Can you show a linear graph or data set of somesort that correlates education expenditures and increased proficiency in learning or test scores?
Thank you in advance.
those rankings were my personal opinion on what needs to be taken care of first. Im not sure why you think I should google some graphs about money and education. BUT to humor your rather elitist douchey comment Ill give you an example of Washington States education finances this year and what happens when school lack money.
660 million deficit for school in washington. Teachers are locked into a contract which doesnt allow the school district to deduct pay, healthcare or effect them at all. This means that the money comes from the students. No new books, computers, facilities, paper, curriculum, sporting events/gear etc.
now I perceive you as a typical narcissistic douche, so Im pretty sure youll come back with some overwritten argument about kinds should learn from wikipedia or something, but really just dont talk to me again.
Thanks in advance.