By: Lauren

Seminatore

Summer 2012 Session

• Swiss law states that every child has a right to education or training.

• Each Canton(State) of Switzerland maintains it’s own education system.

• Each system varies but certain aspects of education are maintained throughout the country such as:

• duration (Primary and Secondary School)

• starting age

• general curriculum

• recognition of equivalent certificates and diplomas

• free of charge for citizens and foreign nationals

• students age 15, decide to go onto vocational training, college, or receive a vocational school leaving certificate

• Students with special needs go to other schools for more specialized education instead of inclusion classes.

• 95% of students in Switzerland complete pre-school and compulsory schooling (up to age 15) at the state schools. 5% attend a private school.

• The primary languages spoken in Swiss schools are German, French, Italian or Romansh. English is learned as a secondary language.

• 90% of people in Switzerland complete upper secondary education between 18 and 19 years of age.

• 99% of Swiss citizens are literate.

• 14:1 Student to teacher ratio

• The world wide web was invented and developed in Switzerland in 1994.

• The country had been the first to adopt technology in education.

• The World Health Organization and the Red Cross originates from Switzerland.

• It is a very health conscious country.

• Being that scientists from Switzerland have won Nobel prizes for research in high energy physics, the country has been one of the first to eliminate WiFi in schools due to microwave exposure.

• Switzerland’s limits for radiation emitted by WiFi is very strict.

• Health Canada allows the general population to be exposed to a power density of 1000 microW/cm2.

• Microwave: a comparatively short electromagnetic wave; especially: one between about one millimeter and one meter in wavelength. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)

• WiFi/WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks):used to certify the interoperability of wireless computer networking devices.

• LAN (Local Area Network): supplies networking capability to a group of computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school, or a home.

• Fiber Optics: The science or technology of light transmission through very fine, flexible glass or plastic fibers.)

• Wireless Networking (Routers)

• Cellphones

• Two-way radios

• GPS

• Bluetooth

• iPad

• Laptop

• Less expensive

• No cables/adaptors

• Easier to install

• Convenient for compatible

wireless devices

• Network without being

bound to one computer

• More secure

networks

• Faster if high-

speed Ethernet

cables are used

• No exposure to

microwave

radiation

• The only radiation studies have been done on rats so far.

• In North America the WiFi base station transmitters

constantly pulse a microwave beacon signal, 10 times

per second using 2.4 or 5.8 GHz frequencies.

• The lab studies show that rats exposed for long periods

to low-level 2.4 GHz microwave radiation had an

impaired immune system and developed more cancers

than sham-exposed rats (Chou et al. 1992).

• Could this happen to students being exposed to WiFi

over long periods of time?

• * Headaches

* Dizziness - Nausea - Vertigo (subsides when student leaves the school)

* Visual and Auditory Distortion

* Racing Heart Rate (Tachycardia)

• * Memory Loss

* Attention Deficit

* Skin Rash (goes away when the child leaves the area)

* Hyperactivity/Anxiety (behavior not previously seen in the child)

* Night Sweats

* Insomnia (microwaves affect melatonin levels)

• News Report Canada

• Students/Parents from School In Canada discuss WiFi

Health Problems

• A company, Swisscom, has been trying to patent a

method to eliminate the radiation that comes from WiFi.

• They have created phones that emitted low radiation

called the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone (DECT).

• Swisscom doesn’t produce WiFi devices so they can’t

implement a WiFi solution yet since Apple and Cisco

control that market.

• The Swiss government then hired Swisscom to install

free fiber optic connections in schools and the computers

may only use an LAN to connect to the internet.

• Students in countries such as Germany, France, and the

UK have encouraged students to spend less time on cell

phones.

• Hard wire Ethernet cables for internet connection as

opposed to WLAN.

• World Health Organization (WHO) has recently

reclassified microwave radiation from wireless

communication devices and mobile phones as

classification Class 2B "possible carcinogen." This is the

same class as lead, DDT and car exhaust.

• The Council of Europe encourages WiFi be banned from

schools.

• Switzerland ranks very high in education globally.

• For 2011-2012, the country ranked #1 for World

Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report.

• Surprisingly, Switzerland’s education is not centered

around technology use in the classroom.

• Most of the schools in Switzerland are lucky to have an

Interactive White Board.

• Digital projectors and scanners are the most common

use of technology in the classrooms.

• PowerPoint and the use of Microsoft Office programs are

gaining popularity now.

• Teachers in Swiss schools are not putting enough emphasis on the use of technology in the classrooms. With students achieving such a high level of education, technology will only enhance the learning process and not harm it.

• The case studies done in the country with interactive smart boards have been nothing but positive from both sides, the teachers and students.

• Basing lessons around the boards, incorporating more interactive educational gaming, and having students use webcams may open an entire new world for Swiss education.

• The mindset of Swiss education is something that resembles the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Each canton would have to implement some sort of teacher incentive to incorporate more use of technology in the classroom.

• http://microwavenews.com/news-center/whats-fcc

• http://moe.eun.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=2db0f7d1-

089c- 4a3a-b157-db3d65a393b2&groupId=10620

• http://geneva.angloinfo.com/information/11/schooling.asp#canton

• http://www.edk.ch/dyn/16342.php

• http://www.indexmundi.com/switzerland/demographics_profile.html

• http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

• http://www.cesifo-group.de/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/1192890.PDF

• http://www.safeschool.ca/The_Swiss_Model.html

• http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fiber-optic

• http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/lanvlanwan/g/bldef_lan.htm