Wi-Fi would bring LT into the 21st century

Lyons Township is a great school. It offers many opportunities in terms of curriculum and extracurricular activities, and classroom instruction is top-notch.

But unfortunately, LT’s technological situation does not always contribute to the school’s high caliber. It’s a known fact that cellular reception is abysmal at North Campus, but the school’s network can be unreliable at both campuses. With a growing number of teachers who incorporate technology into their instruction, often in the form of having students using their cell phones, LT’s technological lagging becomes an unnecessary hindrance upon its students’ learning and communication.

This is a fixable problem. LT is capable of improving this situation by setting up Wi-Fi available to teachers and students at both of its campuses.

With Wi-Fi in school, there is legitimate concern about distracted students not doing their work or not paying attention to classroom instruction. The current cell-phone policy allows phones to be used at lunch, in study hall, in the hallways and in the classroom it is up to the teacher. Some may feel that incorporating Wi-Fi may mean that the current cell phone policy will need to be more rigorously enforced. Actually, it will improve the quality of education that students receive.

There will be no more “running out of computers,” or traveling to another room just to connect to the internet for schoolwork. If a school doesn’t utilize Wi-Fi, it is essentially hindering students from using devices, most of which are actually easier, more mobile and more cost-effective for schools than traditional computers. The other thing we’re forgetting is that students can only Snapchat, text and surf the web when there’s service, which is oftentimes in a classroom during a lesson. If there’s service all over the school, students know that they can just wait to check for notifications, and will feel less inclined to check during class, because they won’t worry about not having service in the hallway. With Wi-Fi will come saved funds, a more efficient learning environment and the better enforcement of existing rules that will improve education in general.

If cost is an issue, there should be a financial remedy, since this is an important issue.