Eich Bin Ein Blogger

A cool "what if" proposed by Nobel literature prize winner Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio in an article on My Way News: What if the Internet existed during the 1930s? Could that have prevented the extermination of millions and World War II? The intellectual pondered:

"Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded - ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day," he said.

Still, the globe-trotting writer noted that access to computers remains a luxury to many in the developing world and said eradicating hunger and illiteracy remain the "two great urgent tasks" of humankind.

"Literacy and the struggle against hunger are connected, closely interdependent," he said. "One cannot succeed without the other. Both of them require, indeed urge, us to act."

Let me first state my desire to win a Noble Prize, if for the sole reason that my "what if" musings would garner national headlines. But I digress. Le Clezio makes an interesting point suggesting that if Germans had access to the the Internet, perhaps the plight of the Jews could have been avoided. He goes on to make the comparison between literacy and the struggle against hunger, and I'd be willing to take his analogy one-step further by offering this sequence:

1. The Internet helps create literate individuals.

2. Literate individuals seek out more knowledge.

3. More knowledge results in the betterment of society.

Le Clezio's thought lends credence then to why schools should be modernized with our students connected to the world and using 21st century digital tools. Get students out of their bubbles and create self-sufficient, knowledge-driven, active citizens. Besides bettering themselves, students can help usher in change in their communities, and, in Le Clezio's mind, saving millions of lives and changing the world.

In the 1930s, had individuals been blogging and spreading information, perhaps other countries may have intervened, or Hitler would have been forced to not go through his atrocities at all due to global awareness. I give this merit, and look at society today - genocide still exists in many parts of Africa, and general poverty and hunger are major problems. Perhaps this is why getting third world countries online would be a huge advantage to areas: knowledge creates power, and knowledgeable countries would escape the label of "third world country" and be able to feed its people and modernize the cities and workforce. This is certainly betterment of society - would the Internet helped pull Germany out of its hole in the 1930s and aided them in avoiding a world-changing crisis? It is certainly interesting to ponder.

New Deal Reloaded?

Came across this interesting article concerning Obama's 21st Century New Deal, and education/technology are primary focuses of the plan. The article states the following:

—SCHOOLS: “[M]y economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.” —BROADBAND: “As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m president – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.”

Cool stuff. As we labor through the beginning of a recession, and hopefully stave off a full-fledged depression, it is super-encouraging to see this type of forward-thinking in an incoming administration. Granted, broadband internet has been here for a quite some time, and schools have been woefully behind corporations and industry when it comes to technological integration - hence, this might not be considered forward thinking because Obama is responding to fairly old problems. Nevertheless, I believe this is forward thinking due to the recognition of our country's future and how students role in using technology will play a huge role in America's endeavors.

Increasing America's competitiveness through modernizing schools is an interesting approach in Obama's New Deal, because when I turn on the news all I hear about are decreasing value of the dollar, bailouts, limited consumer confidence, a mortgage collapse, and general cynicism about America's standing in the world. Interesting that Obama would make it a focus to combat these problems by educating youth and improving schools. As opposed to the band aid over the bullet wound effect of forking over billions to poorly ran auto companies, why not develop long term solutions to problems?

FDR's New Deal did not have much of a focus on schools, although providing cheaper school lunches and putting laborers to work building new schools was an initiative. Still, FDR was responding to a mega-crisis, and America's current predicament is not on par with the situation of the 1930s (not yet, anyway). Obama has more wiggle room to include school and technology initiative, while FDR was forced to play the role of crisis manager in a world that was inevitably heading toward another world conflict. But, Obama has history on his side: many of FDR's initiatives had long-term affects that we still see today (TVA, FDIC, Social Security, Fair Labor Standards Act) - here's hoping that Obama's educational initiatives will bear similar fruits.