Comcast-NBC merger

polkatese

Internet is a necessity for kids, having two school age kids in middle and high school. I might add even a decent color printer (not the washout DeskJet that comes free with computer purchase either). It's called investing and building the future. Otoh, re building Kabul and Baghdad is not. (Ok ignore that last statement)

tonyb

bobman1235 wrote: »

Jesus Christ people, it's not 1982 anymore, computers are part of school nowadays. Just because you didn't "need one" until college doesn't mean kids TODAY don't need one. THe world changes fast. You think public libraries are gonna be around in 15 years? I wouldn't hold my breath.

Sure computers are part of schools, and are provided by in-class computer classes. It is the parents responsibility to supply a child with what he/she needs to complete school work, not government,not corporations. Though some corporations do donate alot to schools, which is a good thing. The difference for me is one is by choice, the other is by force.
Around the country it may be different, but here in Chicago, you don't need the internet to learn the word "responsibility". I have seen families with next to nothing, living in run down homes,apartments, and they still manage to give their kids computers. Others would rather give them cell phones than computers. Comes down to priorities,and parenting, which you or I have no say in the matter. The idea that somehow corporations should be held up to close the gap because of lousy parenting is beyond me. You may disagree, thats cool, just my opinion is all. Don't know if that classifies as " the sky is falling" material, I tried my best.:rolleyes:

jcandy

tonyb wrote: »

Sure computers are part of schools, and are provided by in-class computer classes. It is the parents responsibility to supply a child with what he/she needs to complete school work, not government,not corporations. Though some corporations do donate alot to schools, which is a good thing. The difference for me is one is by choice, the other is by force.
Around the country it may be different, but here in Chicago, you don't need the internet to learn the word "responsibility". I have seen families with next to nothing, living in run down homes,apartments, and they still manage to give their kids computers. Others would rather give them cell phones than computers. Comes down to priorities,and parenting, which you or I have no say in the matter. The idea that somehow corporations should be held up to close the gap because of lousy parenting is beyond me. You may disagree, thats cool, just my opinion is all. Don't know if that classifies as " the sky is falling" material, I tried my best.:rolleyes:

I think the point is that its 2011 not 1994, and the internet backbone can/should be broadly classified as infrastructure analogous to water and electricity. This backbone in the USA, which is highly heterogeneous both in terms of ownership, topology and performance, is subject to growing inefficiency and instability. The realized levels of performance are quite bad:



So, for me the big picture consists of rethinking how to reorganize the backbone to ensure that in 2020 barefoot kids in India don't start laughing at the US network performance. In this case multiple levels of redundancy are good and so the private model for link infrastructure is a good one. One suggestion would be for the Departments of Energy and Defence to contribute the minimal "common" bits (basically, ditches, electricity and roads to access the hardware) of, say, a large distributed US network topology and then impose a nominal tax on private companies in return. The idea would be to allow very high network bandwidth all across the US which is just not happening now, despite the personal riches of the telecommunications principals.

Regarding actual computers, I see no need for the government to "buy" anybody a computer. Used computers cost very little and this cost is overshadowed by the cost of internet access. With regard to access, you just draw a parallel with water and electricity, neither of which is free. I think the nominal $20/month (or $40, whatever) would be more than a fair price to pay for South-Korea-level internet performance. That's on the order of $20-$40 billion dollars per month in revenue, which is more than enough to support a thriving, competitive market. It also keep the door open for new innovations, implementation of new technologies (fiber versus copper, etc).

cokewithvanilla

bobman1235 wrote: »

Jesus Christ people, it's not 1982 anymore, computers are part of school nowadays. Just because you didn't "need one" until college doesn't mean kids TODAY don't need one. THe world changes fast. You think public libraries are gonna be around in 15 years? I wouldn't hold my breath.

Like I said before, schools are generally smart enough to supply students with the required materials to complete an assignment. If a teacher assigns an assignment, and 80% of the class can't complete it due to lack of internet access (we're talking the areas that will get this $10 crap), do you honestly think that they will fail most the class?

What I am saying is, schools work with what they have. Some private schools require students to have laptops as early has Jr. high... but this is because parents are paying x amount for the school. Some schools in poor areas work with books for only half the class and no paper.

dee1949

In a modern world the internet is a necessity. Just as the mail and telephone are. Communication and Information. I email 100x more than I use a phone call. Even pay bills over the internet. Bonus is, Information is also only a few clicks away. One world, one planet, one people.

cokewithvanilla

dee1949 wrote: »

In a modern world the internet is a necessity. Just as the mail and telephone are. Communication and Information. I email 100x more than I use a phone call. Even pay bills over the internet. Bonus is, Information is also only a few clicks away.

Oh come on, a necessity? Heaven forbid you have to use the telephone if you can't afford internet.

Sure, email is a great form of communication, but it isn't the only form. Hell, I know old people who haven't adopted email or internet... they are living just fine.

None of those reasons fall under the category of necessity. Food, shelter, clothing.... that's necessity. Internet access? come on.

bobman1235

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Like I said before, schools are generally smart enough to supply students with the required materials to complete an assignment. If a teacher assigns an assignment, and 80% of the class can't complete it due to lack of internet access (we're talking the areas that will get this $10 crap), do you honestly think that they will fail most the class?

Who said 80%? Why can't it just be one student or a handful of students who needs it? That seems much more likely, since the vast majority of students would have no problem fitting the criteria, and the rest would be too embarrassed to say "I don't have a computer."

I think you're delusional about what goes on in modern public schools. I started high school more than 15 years ago and can even THEN remember having classes that REQUIRED papers be typed. We weren't poor, but we lived in a crappy part of a nice town, so nearly everyone in the school was (relative to me) rich and had a computer of some sort (we eventually did manage to get one). And that was before the Internet was really popular for research and whatnot.

cokewithvanilla

bobman1235 wrote: »

Who said 80%? Why can't it just be one student or a handful of students who needs it? That seems much more likely, since the vast majority of students would have no problem fitting the criteria, and the rest would be too embarrassed to say "I don't have a computer."

I think you're delusional about what goes on in modern public schools. I started high school more than 15 years ago and can even THEN remember having classes that REQUIRED papers be typed. We weren't poor, but we lived in a crappy part of a nice town, so nearly everyone in the school was (relative to me) rich and had a computer of some sort (we eventually did manage to get one). And that was before the Internet was really popular for research and whatnot.

Did your school have computers for you to be able to type on? I know mine did.

Sure, in certain schools this can be 1-5 people... in others it could be more.... but I am willing to bet that the school will have computers if it requires them for assignments. Schools are fairly accommodating. If a parent explains the situation to the teacher, accommodations will be made (I highly doubt the school will say "eff you, poor ****, buy internet").

I am not saying having a computer/internet access doesn't make your school life infinitely easier, I am just saying that it is not a requirement.... if the school can't provide it, they can't reasonably require it without a consensus of the class.

bobman1235

This discussion is going nowhere. Let's just drop it.

dee1949

What is a necessity is what people deem to be necessary. If the government (of the people) is stating the the internet (communication/information) is a vital part of a civilized society, how can we deny the poor the opportunity to participate.
I doubt there is a University or college that doesn't require a computer. If it is a necessity in higher education , it will soon filter down to secondary eduction. Times they are "achagin"!!!

jcandy

My high school had about 6 or 8 of these:

cokewithvanilla

dee1949 wrote: »

What is a necessity is what people deem to be necessary. If the government (of the people) is stating the the internet (communication/information) is a vital part of a civilized society, how can we deny the poor the opportunity to participate.
I doubt there is a University or college that doesn't require a computer. If it is a necessity in higher education , it will soon filter down to secondary eduction. Times they are "achagin"!!!

Oh yeah, government legislation is always a direct representation of the opinion of the greater population :rolleyes:

Not to mention that corporations are suppose to supply this 'necessity'...

I go to a university w/ 26k students. Computers are only 'required' in the 3rd year in certain departments... and even then, the university rents out laptops (for free) and has many computer labs. You can get away without one.

dkg999

And ya'll used to think MicroSoft was the enemy!

cokewithvanilla

dkg999 wrote: »

And ya'll used to think MicroSoft was the enemy!

not me