Fast Times at Every School: Bringing Fiber to the Classroom

[Commentary] This year, policymakers had a productive summer vacation -- they resolved to tackle an emerging problem in our education system: many of the nation’s public schools lack high-quality, high-speed Internet.

As part of the ConnectED initiative, President Barack Obama expects 99 percent of America’s public schools to reach a gigabit of capacity per 1,000 students by the end of the decade. Fiber connectivity represents the soundest investment we can make in our public schools to improve broadband speeds and overall performance. The bandwidth deemed sufficient 15 years ago no longer meets the needs of a modern education. America loses its competitive edge to countries that do a better job connecting their students to high-speed broadband and other cutting-edge technology. If schools provide 1 gigabit per 1,000 students with upload capabilities that match download speeds, students will not only be able to consume content, but also share the innovative work they produce.

[Dosono was a Google Policy Fellow at the Open Technology Institute]