Imagine if D.C.’s education system were redesigned with the understanding that every child would have Internet access. The Internet now is used to help teachers provide the traditional curriculum to students organized in traditional age-based grade levels. With Internet access available to every child, it would be possible to individualize the education program for each student and to provide opportunities for students to gain in-depth understanding and skills in a wide variety of knowledge areas.

One approach to meeting the challenge of designing for the future, while dealing with the present, would call for the mayor to create a task force for the redesign of education. In addition to D.C. educators, a task force should draw on the abundant resources of the area provided by elite universities and unique organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences. It will be disappointing if D.C. does not take advantage of the increased technological resources of its students — perhaps the only positive outcome of the current crisis.