PUBLIC (K-12) EDUCATION. Elementary education involves
developing fundamental skills in children and young adults.
Elementary education is normally funded and managed by
government agencies. It is the goal of many public education programs
to provide the same education opportunity to all the
members of a society, regardless of the economic status of its
students or the demographic structure of a community.
The economics of traditional public education systems limit
the offering of specific courses to regions that have a sufficient
density of students. To ensure that each student can be offered
the same education opportunities, distance education can offer
more courses to each student. Distance education also allows
students to interact with other students with similar interests
and needs at remote locations. Distance learning applications
delivered through the Internet can provide access to standardized
courses that provide equal education opportunities to
most students. Additional e-books will provide students the
ability to carry a single book.
By the end of 1998, approximately 89 percent of all public
secondary and 76 percent of elementary schools in the United
States were connected to the Internet. Since then, public schools
continue to make progress toward meeting the goal of connecting
every school to the Internet by the year 2000. (In 1994 only 35
percent of public schools in the United States were connected to
the Internet.) In addition to having every school connected to the
Information Superhighway, a second goal is to have every classroom,
library, and media-lab connected to the Internet. Schools
are making great strides to achieve this; and in 1998, 51 percent
of instructional rooms in public schools were connected.*
Connection speed is one of the key determinants of the
extent to which schools make use of the Internet. In 1998,
higher speed connections using a dedicated line were used by
65 percent of public schools. Additionally, large schools with
Internet access are more likely to connect using broadband
access technology.