Coronavirus Could Cause NEW Education Dynamic

By Stephen Frank

Usually trends and cultural changes take years and decades to catch the golden ring.  In 1969 the Army was first on the Internet, but it took more than twenty years for the commercial, public use of the new medium to take hold.  Fifty years later, there is no way for us to live without the Internet. 

In July, 1995 Amazon was on the Internet—selling books.  Twenty five years later you can buy books, toilet paper and cars, around the world from Amazon.  It is killing brick and mortar retail shops, large and small.

In 1985 Blockbuster opened its first store, in Dallas, Texas.  The rental of videos created many other firms, made lots of money for early investors.  On a Saturday afternoon you could find your neighbors at Blockbuster, choosing movies to see for the weekend—for you, your spouse and your kids.  By 2005 the business was dying and cable TV, and DVR’s replaced the rental of movies.  This trend lasted about twenty years.  It came, it conquered, and it disappeared.

Fox News was launched in 1996 and changed the news business forever. But CNN was on the air in 1980 and started the trend of cable news.  Fox was started and the competition created a whole new information industry.

All of these aforementioned companies created new industries and a new way to look at the marketing of a product.  We will not be going back to the days before Amazon or Fox/CNN.  We will improve on them, but end them?  Not for decades until a new technique can be used.

The Coronavirus was not planned.  It may have exploded due to the authoritarian Chinese government refusing to admit they had a rare disease in their midst.  By not containing it in December, when it was isolated by Chinese doctors, the Government of China, allowed the creation of a world wide pandemic.  This is bad for everyone personally and economically.

We have seen the NBA and the NCAA close shop.  California is demanding no gathering of more than 250 people in one place—and for those who attend church or other public events with fewer people, everyone needs to sit six feet apart. Corporations are asking workers to work from home.  Zoom, a firm that makes video conferencing software—very good software—is exploding with demand.

On Thursday at 9:15 am  I left Simi Valley for Torrance.  At that time of day, it usually takes 90 minutes to two hours to Torrance on the 405 Freeway.  Instead it took me 68 minutes.  There was no traffic.  One reason is that UCLA has basically closed own, plus many tech firms on the West Side had workers stay home.

A few years ago Steve Poizner developed an online graduate degree for UCLA.  Instead of students spending time on the streets, freeways and in classrooms, they could take the classes, at a graduate level, remotely from on-site locations in the San Fernando Valley, San Jose, or San Juan Puerto Rico.  The same quality education—but saved the environment.  Because of the coronavirus, most State colleges and Universities are finishing the semester using online classes instead of forcing students to physically attend classes.  The environmentalists should be promoting this type of education.

As you know, many of the school bonds on the March 3 ballot failed.  The biggest was Prop. 13, the $26 billion (principal plus interest) measure to help developers and to expand brick and mortar.  Now with the advent of 5G Internet speed and technology, we no longer need to expand buildings—we need to get more broadband instead.  This is cheaper and stops unneeded car trips, buses and trains.  Moreover, money saved on those would easily finance the expansion of broadband technology and 5G.

In fact the State of California, under Gov. Brown, created an online community college—cost affective, save commute time and with the same quality of education as in a physical classroom.  Why not expand the courses available online, when the virus threat is over?

Then you have government schools for grades k-12.  Did you know there is a national online charter school system, so students do not have to travel to class and they can learn at their own speed and in the time that fits their schedule?  We could save billions on brick and mortar.  In fact, that property could instead be used for the homeless and affordable housing.

While the Internet has been with us since 1969, we have not really taken advantage of it.  Yes, you can buy from Amazon or QVC on it, read the El Segundo Times (formerly L.A. Times) on it, and keep up with the stock market and the scores of your sport teams.   But we need to think outside the box.  Could it be that the coronavirus recreated the need for online education?  Is it possible that folks will see this as an advantage?

We save money, we save the environment, folks will no longer have to fight boys in girls bathrooms, the bullying, the harassment, the lack of free speech.  We can return education to its real purpose—education

I do a lot of writing and research.  I can get more information at 3:00am on a Saturday morning from the Internet, including the Library of Congress, 3,000 miles away, then I can at 10:00am on Monday morning at the Simi Valley Public Library. 

The answer to money problems for schools, environmental problems for society, help for the homeless and an education that means something, is right in front of us.  Due to the coronavirus we can now think outside the box.  In fact, we should throw away the box.  This is 2020 and we should create education systems based on the world of today, not 1950.

Let something good come out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stephen Frank is Senior Contributing Editor of California Political Review. Read California news that is incisive, hard-hitting, and solution-oriented with a free subscription to Steve’s daily emails at http://eepurl.com/UAspv

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