Technology from Vision Net erases many miles for students in Montana

Without Vision Net http://www.vision.net/home.php and its video conference service, she said, many Montana children would not take a foreign language.

Every state in America has some problem with public education. My home state of Florida, for example, soon will decide if it will further weaken public education by adopting universal vouchers. Montana, my favorite state to visit, must deal with the effects of wide-open spaces, long distances and too few teachers for certain subjects.

While vacationing in Montana in August, I had lunch at the Star Bakery Restaurant in Nevada City, a ghost town that still has a handful of businesses that cater to tourists. My waitress was 45-year-old Brigitte Hagen, a foreign language teacher. As we chatted, she introduced me to a side of public education I had not seen up close.

A Maryland native and a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. and the University of Montana Western, Hagen is no ordinary teacher. She does not drive to a brick-and-mortar campus. She does not work in a classroom where she can reach out and touch her students. She belongs to a corps of dedicated teachers who carry on the tradition of rural education in Montana’s remote school districts.

Bill Maxwell

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