The Great Divide: It’s Not Just Digital

by
Sousan Arafeh, Bob Regan and Kenneth Saltman

Center for Education Research, Analysis, and Innovation
School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
PO Box 413
Milwaukee WI 53201
414-229-2716

November 30, 2000

CERAI-00-30

The Great Divide: It’s Not Just Digital

By Sousan Arafeh, Bob Reganand Kenneth Saltman

Despite efforts to get allkids hooked up and on-line, in school or out, a substantial computer gapremains. 

Reports from the NationalCenter for Education Statistics (NCES) and the National TelecommunicationsInformation Administration (NTIA) have said the same thing: There is a “digitaldivide” that leads some children to fall through the Net at home and at school.Thus, while access to computers and the Internet grows for society as a whole,it can vary widely from one child, school, or school district to another –largely along lines of race, class and gender. 1

In February 2000, NCESreported that while schools were equally likely to have Internet accessregardless of grade level, the concentration of poverty among their students,and metropolitan status, wealthier schools still enjoyed much richeraccess.  Schools with low concentrations of poverty reported that 62% to74% of their instructional rooms had Internet connections by 1999, and thenumber was growing. In high-poverty schools, meanwhile, just 39% of rooms werewired for the Net, with no increase from 1998 to ’99.2

It's not new news thatlow-income, inner-city and rural kids don’t have equal access tocomputers.  They also typically don’t have equal access to theeducational, social, or economic resources necessary for success in U.S.society.

The last eight years haveseen a number of federal and state attempts to provide subsidies and taxincentives for schools to acquire computers and to expand Internetaccess.  Despite the best intentions of education policymakers,corporations, local district and school leaders, however, the digital divide ofcomputer haves and have-nots remains a fact and reflects a deeper, longstandingdivide of structural and social inequality. Helping schools obtain computersand network access is honorable.  Failing to address the deep disparities in resources that schools confront as they attempt to use theseeducation tools is a travesty, and will do nothing to improve educationalopportunity or student achievement.

Therein lies the good newsin the digital divide, however. If we’re serious about closing the gap, we willbe forced to address the underlying inequities in schools and the communitiesthey serve.

Children using computersneed a nourishing and sustaining physical environment in which to use them.They need schools that understand and provide for their educational needs andinterests. And to help them use computers in educationally meaningful ways,they need well-trained teachers.

To meet those needs, andtherefore to truly bridge the digital divide, requires much more than newhardware or Internet hook-ups.

First, it will requireattention to the physical surroundings where students and teachers work. Thisspace needs to be clean and secure, with access to adequate electrical power.For many schools, particularly poor urban and rural schools, such environmentssimply don’t exist.  Placing computers in deteriorating classrooms andschool buildings seems a poor arrangement of priorities.

Second, it will benecessary to properly support students, teachers, computers, and communicationsnetworks.  While technical support is certainly crucial to answeringstudents’ and teachers’ questions about how to use computers and the Internetand what to do when hardware or software fail, it’s not enough. Morefundamental support is needed if we are to fulfill students’ educational needsand interests.  Simply placing a computer in the classroom does not mean thateducation will spontaneously take place.  Students and teachers need to beable to use these new tools in ways that contribute to, not detract from,teaching and the curriculum.

This requires technical,human and financial resources … and time.  Students and teachers needcomputers that work. To work, computers need software, maintenance, people whocan fix them when they aren't working properly, and people who can show howthey can be used to learn and achieve when they are working.  At the veryleast, this requires money.  Poorer schools typically don’t have thismoney.  The funds schools get through grants and subsidies do providecomputers, phone lines, Internet service, and software.  Funds are usuallymissing, however, for their fundamental supports -- sound, functioningbuildings, well-trained teachers, and healthy, engaged kids.  Withoutthese supports, computers offer limited educational benefit.

Third, computers will serveour classrooms best when we provide students with meaningful educational activities. Teachers and students do need to know how to use computers and the softwarethat makes them run.  But they can offer a much richer educationalexperience when teachers and students learn to use computers in ways thatbenefit their schools and communities.  In Madison, Wis., for instance,the Instructional Technology Academy provides computers, software and trainingto 9th grade students. They meet every other Saturday with experienced teachersand professional designers to work on web pages for local non-profitorganizations like the YMCA and the Wisconsin Intergenerational Project.Computers can help teachers and students make an impact outside of theirclassrooms and connect with their communities in ways that deepen the learningexperience.

Bridging the digital divideis not merely a matter of computers and conduits for all -- as much of thepolicy and media rhetoric would have one believe.  Access to computersdoes not mean they will be used responsibly or in an educationally meaningfulway.  Only by linking technological access, maintenance and training tomore fundamental problems facing our communities will we reap the real benefitsthese new tools can offer.

1 See:

National Telecommunicationsand Information Administration. Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the"Have Nots" in Rural and Urban America. Washington, DC: USDepartment of Commerce, National Telecommunications and InformationAdministration, 1995

National Telecommunicationsand Information Administration. Falling Through the Net II: New Data on theDigital Divide. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, NationalTelecommunications and Information Administration, 1998

National Telecommunicationsand Information Administration. Falling Through the Net III: Defining theDigital Divide. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, NationalTelecommunications and Information Administration, 1999

2 Williams, Catrina,  Stats inBrief, NCES, Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-1999 –Feb 2000. Washington, DC:  National Center for Education Statistics.March 1, 2000, p. 1.  Available at:http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000086