Digital Divide

Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka addressed equal education opportunities for all students. Equal educational opportunity does not only include the differences in race, but also gender, socioeconomic status, and the digital divide. This article discusses what the digital divide is, how it affects our students, and what teachers can do to help eliminate the divide.
Although our society is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, about half of all American households don’t have a computer and more than half don’t have the internet. Therefore, if students are not able to learn to use computer technology at home, society turns to the schools to provide for these students.
As of 2007, all schools are not able to provide the amount of computers needed for all students to learn the technology skills required to survive in our society. Brown and colleagues, McKenzie, and Neumann provided some suggestions such as; offering evening, weekend or summer computer technology classes, holding summer technology camps, or having computer technology clubs that would meet at lunch or after school. Although these sound like good suggestions, I feel that the reasons for needing these have been overlooked. One of the main reasons students aren’t getting equal access to computer technology is due to their low socioeconomic status. Students with a low SES would be less likely to be able to attend evening, weekend or summer classes or summer camps. Also, these classes or camps would likely cost money that they would not be able to afford. Finally, a computer technology club sounds like a good idea as well, however, the likelihood of students attending a computer class during their lunch or free time is low and the student who would go would most likely be those who are already familiar with computers and comfortable enough to show up.