Posted on 09/05/2006 12:36:02 PM PDT by ShadowDancer
Digital Divide Separates White, Minority Students
POSTED: 2:58 pm EDT September 5, 2006
UPDATED: 3:18 pm EDT September 5, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Many more white children use the Internet than do Hispanic and black students, a reminder that going online is hardly a way of life for everyone.
Two of every three white students -- 67 percent -- use the Internet, but less than half of blacks and Hispanics do, according to federal data released Tuesday. For Hispanics the figure is 44 percent; for blacks, it's 47 percent.
"This creates incredible barriers for minorities," said Mark Lloyd, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an expert on how communications influence civil rights.
Not using the Internet "narrows their ability to even think about the kind of work they can be doing," Lloyd said. "It doesn't prepare them for a world in which they're going to be expected to know how to do these things."
The new data come from the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the Education Department. It is based on a national representative survey of households in 2003.
Overall, 91 percent of students in nursery school through 12th grade use computers; 59 percent use the Internet.
Yet within those numbers, the digital divide between groups is a national concern.
Studies have shown that access and ability to use the Internet help improve people's learning, job prospects and daily living.
Schools have taken big steps to close the gaps.
Virtually all U.S. schools are connected to the Internet. The gaps in Internet usage between whites and minorities, though sizable, are smaller during the school day.
That's not the case at home.
A total of 54 percent of white students use the Internet at home, compared with 26 percent of Hispanic and 27 percent of black youngsters. Limited access can erode a student's ability to research assignments, explore college scholarships or just get comfortable going online.
Kids use the Internet most often for completing school assignments, the new study says. But they also count on it for e-mail, sending instant messages and playing games.
The racial divide in computer usage is tied to broader problems, including poverty in black and Latino communities and even a cultural reluctance to use the Internet, Lloyd said.
Among other students, 58 percent of Asian children and 47 percent of American Indian students use the Internet.
The numbers are growing for all groups of students - a bit of good news, Lloyd said.
"We should celebrate that, with caution," he said. "The sky is not falling. The numbers are improving. But there is still a gap, and we need to find a way to address it."
"The Gap, and How To Get It."
Geez, I'd love it if I could get my teenagers off the damn thing and onto a basketball court.
What's the barrier to black students using the Internet? Nothing in the article even pretends that this disparity is anything other than personal choice.
As with most situations, this is simply the consequences of people's decisions. Perhaps black parents should buy computers and get on the Internet. As far as I know, and I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary, ISPs do not discriminate on the basis of race.
Is the point the Gore tax and Clinton and Gore wiring all the schools in minority areas is a failure or just the minorities don't go to the schools we are providing for free?
I hate the smell of Class Warfare in the afternoon.
Sounds like a personal problem to me.
Gee, another excuse to tax working people to buy things for minorities.
I guess the author thinks blacks and hispanics are too dumb/lazy to make enough money to buy computers.
No excuses. Black kids (or rather parents) need to take away the Nintendo, Sony, and XBox and buy a real computer and Net connection. I wonder how the Asian kids do it? /sarc
I bet he has experience in Speaking Truth to Power.
gag.
So if minorities are using the Internet in school, why are they disadvantaged ? This is just another attempt to gin up racial discord in a non-story...
Studies have shown that access and ability to use the Internet help improve people's learning, job prospects and daily living.
yep.
get these kids some parents who parent.
I dunno about your claims... but all my Sec 8 Tenants have big screen TV's and Computers and Internet connections.. and 100 channel cable or satellite.
I have a 32" TV I bought at a going out of business sale a decade ago and no cable or satellite.
It's hard to aruge a huge digital divide when Internet is $10 a month and Cable is $100 and a computer is $300 new and a big screen TV can run $1000 to $5000... If there is a digital divide its not from lack of access.
In a totally unrelated development, whites download pron at a 4-to-1 rate over blacks and latinos. Combined. /s
After selling computers and parts for a number of years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can say that Black and Hispanics do not buy computers. If they do its in very small numbers. You see lots of Whites and Asians buying computer parts, and playing games. Like Bill Cosby said, the parents should not buy them $200.00 tennis shoes, or spend money on Golden Teeth Grills, but should spend the money on their education.
You can buy a used pc AND 6 months of dialup isp service for less than a cost of Air Jordans.
For a 1 pack a day smoker, smoking 25% less cigarettes a month and a single mother can afford a pc and internet dial up service.
Just like studies that show yuppies buy Beemers instead of health insurace, life is about choices, those parents who don't provide 'net to their kids are making one.
Yeah you're right. Next time you go shopping and get to the electronics department, look who's shopping for Playstation and XBox games.
I doubt very much it's an economic issue, game platforms and games for them cost good money.
I really love the term "cultural resistance".
"What's the barrier to black students using the Internet? Nothing in the article even pretends that this disparity is anything other than personal choice. As with most situations, this is simply the consequences of people's decisions. Perhaps black parents should buy computers and get on the Internet. As far as I know, and I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary, ISPs do not discriminate on the basis of race."
Choice is the key word. High speed internet service at home is less, usually about half, the cost of cable or satellite TV. Computers are very affordable (and the difference between the cost of internet service and TV services can be put towards a computer). I often wonder how many underprivileged families with satellite TV do not have internet. My wife and I have a family budget with limited resources, and we chose high speed internet over satellite TV. Seemed like an obvious choice to us.
Precisely.
The Digital DivideTM is just like every other leftist construct. It's an imaginary Boogie Man designed to frighten people into supporting their "solution" to the "problem".
I'm predicting that you'll soon see programs introduced to guarantee free Internet access and computers for "disadvantaged" minorities.
Part of the problem is that one must spell correctly to use the internet. Phonetics and ebonics just don't work well with the rest of the world.
www.fhreereepubblick.com just don't get you there.
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