I saw this article today and thought it would be appropriate to post as we have been discussing this issue. A few points from the article that stand out:
"Half of all students in higher income families have access to the Internet at home through a computer or mobile device. The figure drops to 20 percent for middle income children and just 3 percent of students from poor homes, according to the survey of 2,462 teachers by the Pew Internet & American Life Project..."
"The growing disparity of Internet access is leading to a gap in performance, about 56 percent of teachers said. About seven in 10 teachers say their students now rely on the Internet to complete their assignments."
"But three-quarters of teachers surveyed also said Google and other search engines have conditioned students to expect to find information quickly and easily and discourage children from using a wide range of sources for research, according to the report."
More to come when I post about our most recent discussion on education.
Source: "Survey Finds gap in Internet access between rich, poor students," Cecilia Kang, Washington Post 27 Feb 2013
"Half of all students in higher income families have access to the Internet at home through a computer or mobile device. The figure drops to 20 percent for middle income children and just 3 percent of students from poor homes, according to the survey of 2,462 teachers by the Pew Internet & American Life Project..."
"The growing disparity of Internet access is leading to a gap in performance, about 56 percent of teachers said. About seven in 10 teachers say their students now rely on the Internet to complete their assignments."
"But three-quarters of teachers surveyed also said Google and other search engines have conditioned students to expect to find information quickly and easily and discourage children from using a wide range of sources for research, according to the report."
More to come when I post about our most recent discussion on education.
Source: "Survey Finds gap in Internet access between rich, poor students," Cecilia Kang, Washington Post 27 Feb 2013
The article does bring up an interesting point about the way Google and other search engines have conditioned students to finding information easily by performing quick internet searches. After years of working in libraries, I have seen first-hand the displacement of print materials as being primary research sources. It is a cause for concern that children of middle income and poor families are the ones who are not able to benefit from the seemingly endless flow of data accessible through the internet. I know that several areas that are providing city wide wireless services. If this type of service was pushed out on a broader scale and was combined with a program like A Computer for Every Child, a large number of children who currently do not have internet access at home would have the service as well as the technology to access it. Money is always an issue though, and I do not claim to have all of the answers to the myriad questions associated with this topic. I do know that it is becoming more and more important for young people to grow up with a strong working knowledge of the internet and technology in general. Because of this, there should be more funding for the programs that make technology available to young people. Until that time, there will continue to be a widening of the digital divide.
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