[Vision2020] support (but how?)
Ron Force
rforce@moscow.com
Thu, 8 May 2003 15:32:52 -0700
In the beginning was DARPANet (1973),which developed TCP/IP. Over the next
twenty years, the protocol interconnected NSFNet, BITNET, and ultimately
over 5,000 different networks by 1991. The Internet is a network of
networks, which is why it's called the Inter-net. I was using BITNET in the
80's.
See Vin Cerf's short history:
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/cerf.shtml
********************************************
Ron Force rforce@moscow.com
Moscow Idaho USA
********************************************
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
> Behalf Of Thomas Hansen
> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 1:39 PM
> To: 'Tim Lohrmann'; Tina Cunningham
> Cc: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: RE: [Vision2020] support (but how?)
>
>
> Just a small item of interest concerning David Gelernter's claims:
>
> He states:
>
> "I've used the Internet nearly every day since September 1982."
>
> Question: What websites did he frequent? Are his capabilities
> beyond those
> of mortal man? The internet has only been around since Summer 1991.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim Lohrmann [mailto:timlohr@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 1:19 PM
> To: Tina Cunningham
> Cc: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] support (but how?)
>
>
> Visionaries,
> Tina C.'s observation that "Computers cost money"
> is indisputable. Computers and internet use are darned
> expensive.
> But is the education establishment's rabid(and
> costly) drive to stress computer use at every turn
> necessarily helpful for learning basic skills such as
> reading and analytical thought?
> David Gelernter, a professor of computer science
> at Yale University(and coincidentally one of the
> victims of the notorious "unabomber")thinks not.
> Below is an article Dr. Gelernter wrote a few
> years back.
> Maybe the current "sacred cow" of the
> educators----using computers as much as possible---is
> one area where cutbacks would not only save money but
> help our kids learn to read and think better.
> Isn't teaching kids to use technology a waste of
> time if they can barely read or think analytically?
> TL
>
>
>
> Should Schools Be Wired To The Internet?
> No--Learn First, Surf Later
> By David Gelernter
>
> (TIME, May 25) -- Quack medicine comes in two
> varieties: "irrelevant but harmless" and "toxic." The
> Administration's plan to wire American classrooms for
> Internet service is toxic quackery. Four-fifths of
> U.S. schools have Internet access already; instead of
> wiring the rest, we ought to lay down a startling new
> educational directive: First learn reading and
> writing, history and arithmetic. Then play Frisbee, go
> fishing or surf the Internet. Lessons first, fun
> second.
>
> I've used the Internet nearly every day since
> September 1982. It's a great way to gather
> information, communicate and shop. And in one sense,
> the Internet is good for the American mind. Up through
> the early '90s, everyday written communication seemed
> to be dying out. Thanks to e-mail and fax machines,
> writing has come back. In this respect, the Internet
> could be a fine teaching tool--a way to share good,
> scarce writing teachers. One teacher could manage a
> whole district of students if they were all connected
> electronically.
>
> But the push to net-connect every school is an
> educational disaster in the making. Our schools are in
> crisis. Statistics prove what I see every day as a
> parent and a college educator. My wife and I have a
> constant struggle to get our young boys to master the
> basic skills they need and our schools hate to teach.
> As a college teacher, I see the sorry outcome:
> students who can't write worth a damn, who lack basic
> math and language skills. Our schools are scared to
> tell students to sit down and shut up and learn; drill
> it, memorize it, because you must master it whether
> it's fun or not. Children pay the price for our
> educational cowardice.
>
> I've never met one parent or teacher or student or
> principal or even computer salesman who claimed that
> insufficient data is the root of the problem. With an
> Internet connection, you can gather the latest stuff
> from all over, but too many American high school
> students have never read one Mark Twain novel or
> Shakespeare play or Wordsworth poem, or a serious
> history of the U.S.; they are bad at science, useless
> at mathematics, hopeless at writing--but if they could
> only connect to the latest websites in Passaic and
> Peru, we'd see improvement? The Internet, said
> President Clinton in February, "could make it possible
> for every child with access to a computer to stretch a
> hand across a keyboard to reach every book ever
> written, every painting ever painted, every symphony
> ever composed." Pardon me, Mr. President, but this is
> demented. Most American children don't know what a
> symphony is. If we suddenly figured out how to teach
> each child one movement of one symphony, that would be
> a miracle.
>
> And our skill-free children are overwhelmed by
> information even without the Internet. The glossy
> magazines and hundred-odd cable channels, the
> videotapes and computer CDs in most libraries and many
> homes--they need more information? It's as if the
> Administration were announcing that every child must
> have the fanciest scuba gear on the market--but these
> kids don't know how to swim, and fitting them out with
> scuba gear isn't just useless, it's irresponsible;
> they'll drown.
>
> And it gets worse. Our children's attention spans are
> too short already, but the Web is a propaganda machine
> for short attention spans. The instant you get bored,
> click the mouse, and you're someplace else. Our
> children already prefer pictures to words, glitz to
> substance, fancy packaging to serious content. But the
> Web propagandizes relentlessly for glitz and pictures,
> for video and stylish packaging. And while it's full
> of first-rate information, it's also full of lies,
> garbage and pornography so revolting you can't even
> describe it. There is no quality control on the
> Internet.
>
> Still, imagine a well-run, serious school with an
> Internet hookup in the library for occasional use by
> students under supervision who are working on research
> projects; would that be so bad? No. Though it ranks
> around 944th on my list of important school
> improvements, it's not bad. But in reality, too many
> schools will use the Internet the same way they use
> computers themselves: to entertain children at minimal
> cost to teachers. If children are turned loose to
> surf, then Internet in the schools won't be a minor
> educational improvement, it will be a major disaster.
> Another one. Just what we need.
>
> Gelernter is a professor of computer science at Yale.
> His 1991 book, Mirror Worlds, predicted something like
> today's Web.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Tina Cunningham <kittz_cat@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > People.....
> >
> > To better prepare our k-12 students for the future,
> > we
> > must spend money.
> >
> > Computers cost money.
> > Lab equipment costs money.
> > Books cost money.
> >
> > NONE of these items are on *sale* at a discounted
> > price for our future.
> >
> > In fact, all of these items have INCREASED in price
> > every year. It's called inflation.
> > Our children need to be prepared for college. In
> > doing
> > so, we the people must spend a little more money,
> > whether we want to or not.
> >
> > I went to Salmon River High School in Riggins, ID.
> > SRHS shares a school district with two other high
> > schools. Not all of the high schools in this state
> > are as fortunate as Moscow, Boise, or Lewiston
> > schools, simply because they have to share the
> > wealth.
> >
> > The amount of kids enrolled has gone down, you've
> > made
> > that point over and over again. But the COST OF
> > LIVING has increased yearly aswell.
> >
> > I believe that we spend too much time bickering, and
> > not enough time supporting. Our kids see us hemming
> > and hawing about their future, and how much it is
> > costing us. How does that make them feel? Do they
> > feel we support them? Maybe the test scores reflect
> > the negative impact our bickering is having on our
> > children.
> >
> > Just my opinion...
> > Tina Cunningham
> >
> >
> > =====
> > "Would you not like to be.....sittin on top of the
> > world with your legs hanging free....." **Dave
> > Matthews Band
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
> > http://search.yahoo.com
> >
> >
> _____________________________________________________
> > List services made available by First Step
> > Internet,
> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> >
> > http://www.fsr.net
> >
> > mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> >
> ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
> http://search.yahoo.com
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
>