The EdTech Daily

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In a blog post from 2006 Andy Carvin discussed his recent experience being temporarily disconnected from the Internet and takes the opportunity to reflect on those for whom this situation is not temporary. In his article “New Govt Report Exposes the School-Home Digital Divide ” he reviews a report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the US Department of Education. The authors of the study found that despite the fact that students now have near 100% access to the Internet at school there is still a huge divide between who has access at home and who does not. Not surprisingly, the divide breaks down according to racial and socio-economic lines.

Mr. Carvin ends off by asking what can be done to ensure that this divide does not put these children at a disadvantage later in life. He poses an excellent question, albeit not a new one. Will there ever not be some sort of Divide, as long as there is an economic divide? Poorer children will always lose out as long as we are not a socialist country. If the schools are doing their best to eliminate differences, how much more are we obligated to push at home? Especially when parents might not even be aware of how important this is – it’s as much parent education, as it is student empowerment.

America is not a socialist country, but neither are we completely capitalistic. We do have social programs such as welfare, social security and Medicaid. Where do we draw the line? Perhaps the government should invest in the appropriate infrastructure to bring Internet access to all areas of the country without subsidizing actual Internet accounts for individual families, no matter how poor. People can still choose to do without cellphones and computers in their homes; it does put their kids at a disadvantage both socially and educationally but that’s their choice, as parents.

Where does society have the right to draw the line between the haves and have-nots?