Mounting and Wiring Jacks

The idea behind NetDay isn't to wire every room in every school at the same time. It's a chance to get some network connections in place - that is, to get wiring installed in five classrooms and a library or computer lab in every school in the United States. From there, schools can raise money for computers or more wiring or whatever they decide. To make it possible for volunteers to get the work done, many unions have agreed to waive their rules on NetDay. Right now, parents, teachers, students, other community members and large and small companies across the country are working together to provide planning, hardware and training.

Some schools already have computers, but there has been almost no funding for wiring. Yet without the wiring in place to connect schoolrooms to each other and to outside networks, the offers of free access will go to waste, and students and teachers will lose.

Computer networks offer students and teachers vast resources and exciting opportunities to communicate and work together. Teachers around the world can share curricula on the Internet, and students from Bakersfield to Bangalore can use it to see and understand people and things they never knew existed. What's more, computer literacy has become an essential skill in the job market, and schools that fail to offer computer resources and education are failing to prepare students for graduation.

Glossary of Terms