The proclamation by faculty chairman Steven Lerman of MIT that the course materials from his world-renowned institute will be made available free of cost on the internet is a pleasant shock. This innovative and dramatic announcement will be welcomed by millions of students, educators and political leaders around the world especially when it translates to a corresponding reduction in the alarming costs of obtaining a good education. In the United States it is not uncommon to spend $5000 -$10,000/student in the K-12 system and upwards of $100,000 to get a Bachelor's degree from a "good school."

The www world in which we now live has ushered a new era and a new technology that must be fully exploited to serve humanity. The MIT model which one hopes will be followed by thousands of learning centers around the world will deal a deathblow to outdated concepts of educating the young and the old. Access to learning, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day has the potential to revolutionize the process of learning. The implications of this www largesse are almost limitless and must influence learning at all levels from pre-school to Ph.D. Such an approach, when practiced on a large scale may prove, once and for all that good education need not equate with huge investments in brick and mortar. This possibility must come as a huge relief to thousands of towns and cities whose citizens are turning down referendums to renovate or build school facilities at exorbitant costs.

In my own town, a referendum to renovate the High School at a cost of nearly $68 million was recently turned down by a large margin. A household which may pay as large as $8,000 in property taxes would still place an unequal burden on the average taxpayers if it sends two children to a school system which may spend as much as $8000/student. This burden, which has been borne by taxpayers with an uncharacteristic patience, may not be carried too long because of the increasing percentages of an aging population on fixed income.

The evolving www technology, if properly harnessed, provides a basis to deliver better education at lower cost. It allows us to introduce and experiment with new ideas and concepts of schooling. The number of hours spent in schools could be drastically reduced and this step alone has enormous potential in reducing costs of facilities as class rooms will be occupied with more intensity each day. Add to this a concept that students are required to come prepared to class because the material needed is already "out there" for the student to read and download at the student's convenience. The emphasis now shifts to learning, and the meetings in class can be so productive that both teacher and students may communicate at a higher level of understanding. Thus more than half the educating of a student will have already taken place before the student leaves home!

Some obvious "other side of the coin" issues include the digital divide. But the record of the electronics Industry is clear. Better equipment at lower cost has been the refrain for over two decades. The public libraries have equipped themselves with computers available to anyone. And there is the question of training teachers who can exploit the new tools. This is where the rubber meets the road as it were. The computer can vastly reduce the "administrative" burdens on teachers even as it provides them with a new delivery system. Lastly, the tendency of young people wandering off into the vast www space and entering chat rooms and porno sites needs to be addressed. This is a societal problem not unlike controlling access to TV programs at home. A solution to this problem involves parents at home and addressing First Amendment privileges outside the home. However this type of challenge is not new to a dynamic society which has met such problems in the past whenever new products have been introduced into the market. This should be looked upon as a pleasant undertaking because the dividends from accessing knowledge freely add another beautiful thread in the great fabric known as the American dream. The MIT approach promises to usher in a new era of anticipation and excitement in the world of learning. The dream of an excellent education at vastly reduced costs appears within reach if educators, students and political leaders rise to the occasion and ride the new wave. This will surely benefit everyone.

A century ago, the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high and where knowledge is free ... into that haven of freedom, my father, let my country awake." Who would have thought that Tagore's prayer may be answered in the distant west in the United States of America!