14 DAY TRIAL // Over forty companies are asking the Federal Communications Commission to take a stand and help provide high-speed Internet access to students in America’s classrooms.
Top officers from these companies have written an open letter. The list of signatories includes Eric Schmidt (Google), Michael Dell (Dell), Drew Houston (Dropbox), John Donahoe (eBay), Meg Whitman (HP), Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Reed Hastings (Netflix), Max Levchin (PayPal), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), Char Hurley (YouTube) and George Lucas, to name just a few.
“America’s schools need an upgrade. We must leverage technology to transform education and prepare our youth for the knowledge economy. Last summer, President Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to modernize the E-rate program to connect 99% of America’s students to high-speed broadband and ubiquitous Wi-Fi. Today, America’s CEOs call on you to ensure that the funding is available to upgrade K-12 school Internet infrastructure for digital learning,” the letter reads.
They go on, explaining how all businesses today have been transformed by the Internet, including how products are created and delivered and how customers are discovered. Thus, children in the United States need to have access to technology that will help them in the future.
“America cannot afford to stand by while our competitors around the world invest in the future of education and a workforce that is superior to our own,” the letter reads.
The execs urge the FCC to act boldly to modernize the E-rate program that will provide the capital needed to upgrade the broadband connectivity in schools and the Wi-Fi infrastructure in the next five years.
This isn’t the first time that tech companies try to get the government to help children get access to the latest tech and the fastest Internet speeds. Companies such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft have been particularly involved in such endeavors.