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During his yearly State of the Union address, President Barack Obama mentioned that the Federal Communications Commission, along with tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon, would be providing the framework needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to high-speed Internet over the next two years.
The move is a part of the ConnectED initiative that the President announced back in June, which pledged to connect 99% of students to next-generation, high-speed broadband within five years, at speeds no less than 100 Mbps and with a target of 1Gbps.
Last year, I also pledged to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. Tonight I can announce that with the support of the FCC and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon, we've got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next two years, without adding a dime to the deficit.
Apple also provided a statement to The Loop about its role in the ConnectED initiative:
“We are proud to join President Obama in this historic initiative to transform America’s schools,” Apple said in a statement provided to The Loop. “Apple has a long history in education, and we have pledged to contribute MacBooks, iPads, software and our expertise to support the ConnectED project. We look forward to announcing more details with the White House soon.”
An accompanying fact sheet to the State of the Union address [PDF link] also stated that the President will announce "new philanthropic partnerships" with the tech companies mentioned throughout the coming weeks. Apple was also mentioned during last year's State of the Union, with the President lauding the company's move to again build Macs in America.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Top Rated Comments
When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."
---Dom Hélder Câmara
We should have an education system that is properly funded because of a democratic will to take care of every child, rather than having to applaud the bread and circuses distraction of charity and philanthropy.
If the system were working correctly, we wouldn't need welfare, or any other kind of after the fact handout.
Educate people, feed them, clothe them, put a roof over their heads, give them meaningful work to do, and then your fears of crime and war disappear.
Why is it the government's responsibility to do most of this? I agree that education is a purpose of government, however last time I checked I work to feed myself, I work to buy my clothes, I work to pay the mortgage, and I got my job on my own - I didn't need the government to "give me a meaningful [job] to do".
It is not the government's job to do these things. It is an individual's job to do these things. It is in a government's best interest to provide a temporary lifeline for those that fall on bad times, and to make sure that the capitalistic system cannot be taken advantage of by those in power (read: i'm in favor of advancing minimum wage so that those who do work hard can at least afford the above), but in the end, it is an individual's responsibility to provide the means by which they are to survive unless they do not have the physical or mental capacity to do so.
Seriously, this is the most intelligent comment that I have read on Macrumors in months.
I'm the furthest thing from a Republican, and the guy is right. None of that is the government's job. People have to learn to take care of themselves. Quit depending on the government to do everything for you. That's how we got in this mess to begin with.
I like the sound of that, except that you can't legislate people to ignore their nature of greed and envy. The ability to work hard and reap the rewards (not always monetary) is what drives progress. Your utopian world can never work because not every job in society is equal. In who's eyes will it ever be fair to reward a janitor the same as a brain surgeon? Not everyone is intrinsically motivated.
Porn.
Cross country sexting.
And a plethora of distractions keeping most kids out of the loop.
I remember something similar back when the iBook was created. It hasn't helped our schools develop better students or academicians. We're slinking down on the world stage, but shoveling money into kitsch-tech which is seen as a magical-pill solution for our ills.
Good for Apple and other tech companies. Good for the big-gov. machine. Bad for 99% of the students and the taxpayers below the salt.