
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995                   TAG: 9506140031
SECTION: EDITORIALS                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL DISPARITY: WHO'S PLUGGED IN?

THIS FALL, classrooms in some 30 high schools, community colleges and universities in Southwest Virginia's 9th Congressional District will be wired for two-way telecommunications. This will mean that students in, say, a small high school in a thinly populated rural school district will be able to take advanced courses in math, science or foreign languages not available in their own school, but offered by teachers in other schools, many miles away.

This is an excellent initiative, but not a panacea. Nor is it cause to ignore broad and continuing disparities in educational opportunities across Virginia.

Southwest Virginia's venture into distance learning is being made possible in part, as they say, by grants from Bell Atlantic. The latest, a $165,500 grant from Bell to link Shawsville and Christiansburg high schools, Radford University and Virginia Western Community College, was announced last week.

All involved should be congratulated for the enterprise. This sort of endeavor is likely to continue expanding, in part because distance learning is more than simply a field trip on the information superhighway. It can play an important role in enriching instruction and reducing disparities among public school districts.

The concept, and especially the technology that makes it possible, should not be regarded principally as a means of saving money. It tends, in fact, to be expensive. Nor should distance learning be seen as appropriate for all kinds of teaching and curriculum. Its proper role is limited.

Still, distance learning can enhance and broaden educational offerings, as well as provide a substitute for hiring new teachers. And, by improving access to information for students in poorer and more isolated school districts, it can put their education on a more equal footing with students in wealthier communities.

That said, it needs also to be emphasized that new technology alone is not the answer. Interactive learning and teaching via video and audio equipment are not the same as face-to-face interaction among students and well-trained teachers in the classroom. Information via computer is not the same as hands-on books and reference materials that should be available in school libraries.

Moreover, as welcome as is Bell Atlantic's interest in public schools, educational inequities are not Bell Atlantic's responsibility. The schools and their problems remain in the purview of state and local governments and local school boards. The legislature is trying to help with initiatives not limited to distance learning. But more attention - not to mention, in some cases, more funding - is needed.

This fall, as Shawsville and Christiansburg high schools are plugged in for distance-learning programs, candidates for the General Assembly and local school boards will be seeking voters' support. Virginians should make sure those elected are ready to go the distance, and not just electronically, to address educational disparities.

by CNB