U.S. needs a moonshot on distance education
We both served in the U.S. Senate for many years, in different parties and sometimes with differing approaches to fixing the nation’s problems. But there was one thing we always agreed on: simple “bumper sticker” solutions to complicated problems rarely work.
Unfortunately, we are seeing the impulse for simplistic solutions reemerge during COVID as the nation tries to shift education online — with less than satisfying results.
Fewer than half of the nation’s 50 million kindergarten-to-12th-grade students are participating in the massive experiment with distance education, by some estimates. Sixty percent of rural health care facilities are not set up for telehealth. These are crises that need real answers.
Some proponents of the simplistic approach argue that we can simply cure these problems by giving away free broadband to everyone.
The reality is that 95 percent of U.S. homes have access to high speed broadband, but only 73 percent of adults subscribe. Both of us have been working with companies like Comcast for years to help them get the remaining homes signed up through their $10-a-month programs for low income homes. During COVID-19, some of these programs are even being offered for free. Vitally, these programs are digitally-training hundreds of thousands low-income residents too.
Getting everyone connected to broadband is an enormous challenge for many reasons. An Obama FCC study found that only 10 percent of non-adopters would sign up even if the offers were as low as $1.99 a month. Clearly the adoption gap involves some complex underlying social issues.
Seventy percent of teachers said in one survey that their school wasn’t properly prepared for the online education transition. Parents are often unavailable to help; with the economic pressures brought on by the pandemic, and nearly 13.6 million single parents raising over 21 million children, many parents already overburdened and unable to take on the role of a teacher’s aide.
Nearly 40 percent of teachers say students don’t find current online curricula engaging. The majority of our eighthgrade students reportedly lack many of the necessary digital skills for online learning; Generation Z’s proficiency with Instagram doesn’t necessarily translate to the ability to learn online.
Student absenteeism — as high as 30 percent or more in some cities prepandemic — has worsened in the online environment. Most school systems are unable to address these multiple sets of challenges and simply stopped grading students because of equity and other concerns. Without any plan in place, absenteeism then skyrocketed.
A Pew survey finds that over 40 percent of African American and Hispanic households report not having a computer or laptop at home. Tens of millions of students no longer have access to the school lunch program and could be going hungry. It’s hard to learn history on an empty stomach.
You start to get the picture. The problem has many dimensions and is complex. There is no single answer.
In the past, our country has committed itself to achieving great goals by marshaling the best minds in public-private partnerships. The Great Depression recovery, placing a man on the moon, the war against cancer, rural electrification, the dozens of life-changing inventions by ARPA and DARPA (our major research agencies) such as the founding of the internet, GPS and satellite technology — and so much more — were all built on that partnership model.
We need a similar moonshot for 21st century education. It must bring together our government leaders with our business and civic leaders to address its many aspects. We need to learn from teachers, parents and students as to why online education is falling short and make appropriate changes.
Congressionally appropriated CARES Act funds should help ensure that every student has a computer and a broadband connection at home. New initiatives to build broadband to the 24 percent of rural homes that don’t have broadband access must be focused on unserved rural communities, and regulations should be updated to ensure that the most cost-effective solutions are all on the table. We should undertake the national goal to accomplish universal digital literacy by 2025.
And there is much more.
Our essential point is that there is no silver bullet and that only by bringing together business, government and civic leaders in a common effort can we better get our arms around this challenge and marshal the kind of Big Think public-private initiative that has worked so well for us in the past.