Year 2000 -- Will Your District's Computers Be
Ready?
You've heard about
the "Year 2000 Problem" with computers? Is it a problem for your school?
You ought to know! The U.S. Department of Education, the American Association
of School Administrators, and others are offering information and help!
Included: A link to a book your teachers won't want
to miss!
You've all heard about the problem. It's called the year 2000 compliance
problem, the year 2000 problem, the Y2K problem, the millennium bug, and
(I'm sure) other names that we could never print. News about computer
problems that will arrive with the year 2000 is reported every day. You
read about it in the newspapers. You hear about it on the radio and TV.
Look in the employment listings and you'll find out that many people are
needed to help solve the problem.
Indeed, people are already experiencing the Y2K probem!
Recently, a movie patron tried to pay for his movie tickets with a credit
card, but the terminal at the ticket counter rejected the card. The patron
knew that he'd paid his credit card bill, and the theater always had taken
his credit card before -- so what was the problem? The card had an expiration
date in the year 2000.... If something similar hasn't happened to you
yet, watch out. It might!
IS IT A PROBLEM FOR SCHOOLS?
As far back as far as 1996, Education
Week reported that some school districts had difficulty tracking "…the
expiration of employees' teaching certificates and the status-review schedules
of children in special education."
Yes, school districts and educational institutions will certainly be
bitten by "the bug"!
Fixing the bug will take time, and money. And if your district has not
yet begun, now is the time.
Does it sound simple? If you feel secure that your computers, software,
and data are ready, are you certain that every other computer (its
data included) that you share information with is compliant too? Date-sensitive
systems related to school systems include (but are not limited to) payroll,
student records, budget, and ordering. Your computers may be linked to
state and federal computers. Surprises will abound!
The U.S. Department of Education is also helping educators handle the
Y2K problem. They have created a Year
2000 Project Web page. The site provides links that may be valuable
to administrators. The Department itself has developed a strategy to address
their problem. The Department of Education will
"...analyze all data exchanges with the education community
to ensure that we continue to carry out our business. …Also contingency
planning will take place to determine necessary actions in case systems
cannot be fixed or to deal with other difficulties that may arise."
GETTING DOWN TO THE NITTY-GRITTY: WHAT'S THE PROBLEM, REALLY?
The problem has to do with space and time, elements with which educators
are certainly familiar. Early computer programs were written to conserve
memory space -- the early computers, even mainframes, had little memory
-- especially compared to the computers of today. Every memory bit was
counted and shortcuts in computer code became standard. In dates, representing
the year with two digits was space-efficient. C.E.Shipp clearly defined
the problem in Scientific Computing and Automation (February 1998):
"...[T]wo digit representation of year values do not cross the
century boundary going from the 1900s to the 2000s very well. That is,
the sequence: 97, 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03…does not allow for sorting, calculations,
date comparisons and projections unless special program modifications
are made. …To store data and pass dates between systems, two-digit year
representation must be replaced."
Businesses, governments, and organizations have already spent millions
to eradicate the Y2K problem and they have hardly scratched the surface.
Many of the software problems exist in programs that were written in computer
languages seldom used in the 1990s. Each line of code must be examined
and rewritten, if necessary, to prevent errors. Some companies are installing
new hardware and/or software, trying to avoid the problem, but they have
to assure that their new systems can interface with older systems. The
effort to locate experienced workers and train new ones is time consuming
and expensive. Competent troubleshooters have more work than they can
handle. And the clock is ticking.
A SCHEDULED DISASTER
Will the immense costs of preparing for and dealing with Y2K lead to
economic disaster? Some say it will.
"Year 2000 is a unique and unprecedented economic event. Previous
jolts to the economy, like the Gulf War and the oil price shocks of the
1970s, were surprises. But Year 2000 is the first economic disaster to
arrive on a schedule. The great danger is that the U.S. economy will not
be ready to welcome the millennium."
Such was the warning in Business
Week's March 2 issue about possible economic results. If we stopped
to think Where
the Bug Will Bite even non-computer people would lose sleep. Business
Week provided a summary:
Electric power. "Scattered power outages are likely, and some
nuclear power plants may be shut down temporarily."
Government. "Major problems exist at the Internal Revenue Service
and many other agencies. Most state and local governments are way behind
fixing date-sensitive programs needed for tax collection, payrolls,
and welfare benefits."
Banking and financial services. "Most large banks, the Federal
Reserve, and the exchanges should be well prepared. But foreign banks
and small U.S. banks are lagging. The result: Disruptions in the financial
system."
Manufacturing. "Most large companies are on top of the problem,
but they are vulnerable to problems at smaller suppliers. Industries
such as pharmaceuticals and petroleum refining depend on timing-sensitive
computer programs."
Total loss of output, 1998-2001. "$119 Billion (in 1998 dollars)"
And education was not even mentioned.
THE CRISIS WON'T AFFECT EVERYONE
Others claim that the Year
2000 computer problem is not a crisis for everyone. Eleanor Snite
writes in the Jacksonville Business Journal that "not everyone who owns
a computer needs to panic about the coming of the year 2000."
"For the small- to medium-size business with a few personal
computers, the problem could be fairly easy to solve. Indeed, it could
be as easy as downloading a software patch or manually changing the clock
on the computer."
But she does remind business computer users "that have both their hardware
and software in sync with the millennium…to be aware that everyone who
connects to their system has to be 2000-friendly as well."
ANOTHER YEAR 2000 PROBLEM
While just thinking about the year 2000 problem gives many of
us headaches, low-tech problems will also arrive with year 2000. Such
is the situation with tombstones! In many cemeteries, you can see tombstones
already in place, awaiting the passing of long-lived people. The carved
date of death on many of these tombstones reads 19--. The last two digits
are meant to be filled in when the death occurs. But people are living
longer now. What might have looked certain (death before year 2000) at
one time, won't always hold true. But this low-tech problem does have
a solution -- the numerals can be filled in and carved again The solution
will also take time, skill, and money. But I can visualize that solution....
My headache is already going away.
RELATED RESOURCES AND INTERNET
LINKS
The Kids Guide
to the Millennium Do your teachers need some millennium-sized
ideas for millennium-related classroom activities? The Kids Guide
to the Millennium will start you on the way! (See a story about
this new children's book on this week's Education World BOOKS IN EDUCATION
page.
"Technical Approaches to Solving Year 2000 Problems" by C.E. Shipp.
Scientific Computing & Automation, February 1998
Year
2000 Project The U.S. Department of Education "Year 2000 Project"
includes information about department strategies, background information,
and links to federal resources.
Everything
2000 Links to everything related to 2000, including the Computer
Date Crisis.
The Year 2000 Information Center
The Year 2000 Information Center provides a forum for disseminating
information about the year 2000 problem…and for the discussion of possible
solutions. Find hardware/software compliance information, late breaking
news, job listings and resumes, and more.
Zap!
How the Year 2000 Bug Will Hurt the Economy All told, the Year 2000
bug could cost the U.S. about $119 billion in lost economic output between
now and 2001, according to this Business Week article.
You've heard about
the "Year 2000 Problem" with computers? Is it a problem for your school?
You ought to know! The U.S. Department of Education, the American Association
of School Administrators, and others are offering information and help!
Included: A link to a book your teachers won't want
to miss!