yes, no doubt the challenges are significant, given the centrality of public education in local, state, and even national politics, but policy (slowly, piecemea

yes, no doubt the challenges are significant, given the centrality of public education in local, state, and even national politics, but policy (slowly, piecemeal) got us into this problem, and perhaps only policy (after a long cycle of learning & debate) can get us out. the main point is that a key (hopefully self-evident) principle is that our liberties shouldn't be for sale at any price. if that means states/localities need to develop software (and software development as a competency), so be it. political winds can change. but as has been pointed out, it's not even clear that we really need much new technology, when existing tech seems to be perfectly satisfactory, if unexciting. the mass distance-learning experiment we just experienced seems largely a failure. turns out learning, while central, is only one of many educational concerns, and computer-based learning is at best augmentative, not primary (unlike, say, school administration systems).