Arne Duncan Calls Slow School Internet 'Morally Unacceptable'
The Secretary of Education wants school systems to have networks with broadband speeds up to 120 mbps
By GREG OTTO
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| Education Secretary Arne Duncan (L) and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (R) read the Dr. Seuss book 'Green Eggs and Ham' to students enrolled in a Head Start program. |
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asked cable companies to help boost technology in America's classrooms Wednesday, telling corporate officials slow internet speeds in schools are hurting kids in the classroom.
"Most schools have about as much Internet bandwidth as your house," Duncan said during a conference in Washington, D.C. "We are denying are teachers and students the tools they need to be successful. That is educationally unsound and morally unacceptable."
Speaking at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's 2013 Cable Show, Duncan called on the industry to help accelerate a number of technological upgrades for classrooms, including moving textbooks from print to digital, creating more preschool programs and upgrading school networks to support broadband speeds up to 120 mbps.
Duncan's appeal comes less than a week after President Barack Obama announced his ConnectED initiative, a plan to wire 99 percent of America's students to high speed broadband and wireless networks within five years.
Duncan said that current connectivity rates pale in comparison to other countries around the world. He
