IT’S THE ECONOMICS, STUPID!
I sense another government boondoggle coming:
While public schools have made huge improvements in providing computer and Internet access, minority and poor students lack computer access outside of regular school hours, according to two new reports released today by the National Center for Education Statistics in the department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
“The pace of technological change is truly astounding and has left no area of our lives untouched, including schools,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. “These reports are good news and show how much progress has been made in connecting nearly every school in the nation to the Internet. But there are still big differences in home computer use that need to be addressed before we can declare the digital divide closed.
“We need to address the limited access to technology that many students have outside of school. There is much more we can do. Closing the digital divide will also help close the achievement gap that exists within our schools.”
Ooo! Ooo! I know- let’s give computers and provide free internet access to all minority and poor homes. But, that wouldn’t be fair. Higher income homes will still be more likely to have broadband. OK, free broadband, then. And printers, too. Scanners? Yeah, better throw in scanners and a digital camera, too, just to make sure we can close that digital divide. *Sigh*
Call me cruel and heartless (OK, you’re cruel and heartless) but I don’t think it’s Rod Paige’s job to worry about the computing capacity in American homes. I think Jesus said something about the poor a while back. Something about them always being with us. Does Rod Paige really think he’s going to fix this? With computers?
4 Responses to “IT’S THE ECONOMICS, STUPID!”
 Comment by Nick Blesch October 30th, 2003 at 7:50 pm |
I hate to admit it, but you’re probably right. I think it’s quite clear by now that educrats consider computers the new band-aid, fix-all solution for the problems with education in America. Me, on the other hand, I want to know just exactly computers are going to help illiterate kids. Computers are for computing; teachers are for teaching. This is such a simple concept, and it seems to have been lost on every administrator, everywhere. *sighs* |
 Comment by Laura October 30th, 2003 at 8:34 pm |
In this city, our public libraries are stiff with computers, which are equipped with internet access, and they get lots of use. It’s not true that poor kids have no access to computers or the internet after school, at least, not around here. |
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Comment by Nick Blesch October 31st, 2003 at 2:03 am |
I think it’s like that in a lot of places; I posted a while back about schools in (I think) Minneapolis that were all up in arms for new PCs; it took about five seconds on the city libraries’ home page to find out that they all had stacks upon stacks of net-connected computers. (I’d link to my post, but I can’t find it because I’m very tired, heh.) |
 Comment by Ron October 31st, 2003 at 11:27 am |
Since I don’t allow my kids to surf the net or play computer games (I don’t want them to grow up dull-witted), does that mean they are disadvantaged? Will my thinking, reading, creative children be able to compete against kids who are growing up playing Grand Theft Auto and browsing Victoriassecret.com? Maybe I should re-think this. |