Minority Students
The internet access divide disproportionately affects minority students, as those students often reside in poorer, inner city, school districts. The ability of a school system to provide the resources necessary for a comprehensive education, which involves allowing the students to gain an understanding of computers and the internet as a whole, heavily depends on their ability to fund such technological ventures. Furthermore, students living in less affluent school districts are significantly less likely to have consistent access to the internet in their homes, which places them still further behind students attending schools in districts which are better off.
Much of minority students disparaging access to the internet and computers, in general, can be attributed to the enduring problem of structural racism. Structural racism deems the disproportionate population of minorities in poverty as not just a random occurrence, but a systemic issue. Meaning, the continuation of impoverished minority students arises because of the social and economic systems under which society operates. This system perpetuates itself through the suppression of technology in traditionally under-privileged regions of the United States. While the stipulations of structural racism by no means indicate that individual schools, or school systems are culpable for the problems inherent within differential access, they present themselves as symptoms of a larger problem.
Although the U.S. Department of Education reports that around 97% of classrooms have daily access to a computer, students attending schools in impoverished areas are more likely to have to share a smaller set of computers amongst a larger group of students.
The Digital Divide harms impoverished students the most, as a good education remains the best way to climb up the socioeconomic ladder. Racial marginalization of students in poor districts creates an often insurmountable barrier.
Much of minority students disparaging access to the internet and computers, in general, can be attributed to the enduring problem of structural racism. Structural racism deems the disproportionate population of minorities in poverty as not just a random occurrence, but a systemic issue. Meaning, the continuation of impoverished minority students arises because of the social and economic systems under which society operates. This system perpetuates itself through the suppression of technology in traditionally under-privileged regions of the United States. While the stipulations of structural racism by no means indicate that individual schools, or school systems are culpable for the problems inherent within differential access, they present themselves as symptoms of a larger problem.
Although the U.S. Department of Education reports that around 97% of classrooms have daily access to a computer, students attending schools in impoverished areas are more likely to have to share a smaller set of computers amongst a larger group of students.
The Digital Divide harms impoverished students the most, as a good education remains the best way to climb up the socioeconomic ladder. Racial marginalization of students in poor districts creates an often insurmountable barrier.