Blog Post #2: The Digital Divide and Internet Learning

The internet is increasingly required in modern-day American education and is undeniably valuable for today's students. According to USA Today, however, only 57 percent of South Carolina homes have broadband access. This puts children living in these homes at a disadvantage right out of the gate, especially for students whose teachers are employing methods like Greenville math teacher Jennifer Southers'. Southers posts her lectures online for students to watch and uses class time for work, when her students can ask her questions and work through issues instead of trying alone as homework.

Southers using digital technology in her classroom

This is an interesting idea, and one Southers reports to suit her students better than traditional learning. But what of students residing in the 43 percent of S.C. homes without the web? How can they possibly be expected to complete their in-class assignments without access to the accompanying lessons? How can they compete with their classmates in the other 57 percent?

There is a simple and depressing answer: they can't. Those arguing against the existence of this digital divide have plenty of "answers" for these students and those like them. There are libraries providing internet access. There are cafes and even fast food chains advertising free wi-fi for customers. The list of purported solutions goes on, and each answer is just as out of touch with reality as the last.

The truth is that libraries are not enough. Internet sessions there are usually timed, carefully monitored, and otherwise restricted in ways home sessions are not. In areas predominately without home internet access, Southers' students are certainly not the only people hoping to get online. There may be long waiting lists that stretch until the library closes (which, incidentally, is usually earlier in poorer areas--the same areas with limited home internet access). Students do not get enough time on the computer at the library if they are able to get on at all, a far cry from their peers equipped with home computers linked to the internet.

The Starbucks Solution is even worse. There are often time limits in restaurants offering free wi-fi, but that is far from the worst part of this supposed answer to the digital divide. When thought about logically, the idea that a student lacking basic internet in her home owns a working laptop, iPad, or other portable device with internet capabilities seems far-fetched, to say the least. Panera Bread is not handing you a Macbook along with your soup, so how are students supposed to utilize the internet at these places? Free wi-fi doesn't do you much good when you don't have a device to connect.

Add in possible transportation and supervision issues for students of varying ages and it's enough to put a giant X through these attempts at denying the digital divide's existence and impact.

Let's stop kidding ourselves. Internet learning can be a very useful tool, but without all students having the same level of access the whole concept is impossibly flawed. For Southers' students to benefit from her innovative teaching ideas, South Carolina needs to close the digital divide and raise that 57 percent of homes with internet access to 100 percent. The rest of the nation must follow suit or leave these people behind.