Pushing Bronxville School Into the 21st Century

by Jack Manley

Now that we have been living in the 21st century for quite some time, the internet is a staple in almost everyone’s technological diet. With such a vast wealth of knowledge floating around in the ether, the internet is a tempting and powerful tool. Wireless internet, especially, is commonplace in today’s society—most modern laptops can connect automatically to networks, and internet-heavy smart phones have invaded the lives of many, especially here in Bronxville. These gadgets take advantage of the internet’s marvels on the go, staying up to date and connected with the rest of the world at a frighteningly rapid pace. And yet for everything that Bronxville High School offers, there is a notable absence of one crucial thing, the sign that we have evolved technologically speaking as a species—true wireless internet.

Wireless internet is something that, in today’s day and age, is essentially as simple to set up as it is to use. Students have likewise been clamoring for its introduction: Sam Benner, a senior, declared that he would “love to have wireless internet access in the school,” while Gabby Grantham, a junior, made a similar response: “I would enjoy it,” she said. “I think it would be useful for students and teachers, especially for doing projects.” Benner and Grantham are not alone in their opinions: most of Bronxville School wants access, and with the proliferation of high-tech gadgets, access would be taken advantage of.

But we have to be reasonable here—blanketing the entire school in a wireless network would be both difficult and highly costly. There is a solution, however, one that is employed in a certain famous coffee shop all across America: the “hotspot.” The student body would be polled to determine where wireless internet access is most needed in the school (say, a cafeteria or library) and hotspots would be created. Students and faculty would then be allowed and encouraged to bring in personal wireless devices and connect them to the internet. The creation of the hotspots themselves would be likewise simple: Bronxville School already has an existing wireless network (albeit a weak and essentially inaccessible one) with a technology staff that is well acquainted with its workings—expanding the wireless network or creating several more would not require any true additional training. Even in a school like Bronxville, where the walls are made mostly of block, cables can be passed into almost any room where a phone or cable television jack exists. Through the use of a CAT 6 (category 6) cable, multiple signals can be sent (including internet) to a determined area; all that is needed in the process is snaking additional cables through the already existing “pipes.” Once wires have been placed, all that is required is a wireless router, something which is relatively inexpensive (floating around $50.00) and can potentially handle hundreds of connections (for simply—and sluggishly—browsing the internet) or fewer (for more bandwidth heavy activity such as downloading a song or movie—something which will rarely happen at the school). To relieve network stress though and speed up connections, multiple access points can be created to better distribute the bandwidth burden that would result from of a large amount of use.

The benefits of such a system are essentially endless: by creating wireless hotspots within the school, more students would be encouraged to bring in personal devices to do their work. As a result of this, school libraries and computer labs would become more open as students opt to bring in their own devices, creating space for classes or people lacking wireless-enabled devices. The library could even implement a laptop rental service when their devices are not being used; rather than being limited to classes only, a student could take out a laptop and travel to a hotspot to do work (after being approved, of course). The system could essentially be handled like a more delicate version of the existing library check-out service, where students would be held accountable for damage to school property.

So why don’t we have a true wireless network, one where students can bring in their own devices, connect, and improve their productivity? Some might say that the expenses are too high, but with a projected 2008-2009 operating budget of nearly $48 million (a fair portion of which is dedicated to the purchasing and maintaining of Smart Boards, which, in this writer’s opinion, are completely useless), a grant could easily be obtained from the school. But then why don’t we really have access? To put it simply, it’s because students at Bronxville haven’t really pushed for it. The demand is there, that much is clear, but with so much happening in terms of sports or academics or music or anything, a Bronxville student doesn’t have much time to fight for something like this. If we want access, we need to call for it, talk with the administration, establish budgets, and get projections. Only then will our dream of a wireless (or at least partially) Bronxville School become a reality.