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Essay on Using technology to teach low-income students
Since the early 1990s, the gap in the availability of the computers and the access of the Internet between schools in affluent and poor areas has decreased dramatically”.
While most of us find that our society is realizing the potential of this “information age,” there is concern that many are being left out. Statistics show an enormous gap in economic status and racial background between those who are logging on to the Internet and those who are not.
The growing fear is that low-income people will not have the same access to information and therefore will not be able to participate in the democratic process. As digital technologies are bringing an exciting array of new opportunities to many, they actually are aggravating the poverty and isolation that plague some rural areas and inner cities.
The term “digital divide” refers to this gap between those with access to the Internet and those without access. It has become a rallying cry for philanthropies, corporations, advocates and government to come together, pool resources, and invest billions of dollars in providing access points to the Internet and computer training at schools, libraries and community organizations in low-income neighborhoods.
The efforts of these digital divide initiatives are succeeding in establishing more points of access. Majority of American classrooms, where learning actually takes place, are not even wired for telephones, much less local area networks and Internet on-ramps. This is particularly true in low-income communities.
In 1998, only 39% of classrooms in poor schools were connected to the Internet, compared with 62% of classrooms in wealthy schools. More often than not, children in low-income families not only lack access to advanced technology in their schools, they also do not have the opportunity to develop computer and technology skills at home compared..........
