A Letter from the Heartland: The Tech Divide-In real time
“Access to computers and the Internet has become a basic need for education in our society.”
- Former United States Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND)
During the early pandemic, students were required to complete their coursework online. An immediate divide occurred between students who have internet access at home and students who do not have reliable access. This divide only depended during the next two years when virtual or “e-learning” took center stage in education delivery. Some students excelled while others fell behind. In my overseeing a college access program of over 800 students in grades 6–12, I will ask students in small group settings, “How many of you have the internet at home?” and out of 10 students at a time, 7 or 8 will raise their hands. At this time, I usually go on a for a while about the lesson assuming all have the internet.
But my mind would keep floating to those students who do not have access to the internet, and it is hard to comprehend the difficulties they face. They might not be able to get the extra help from multiple resources (tutor.com, Kahn academy, google, or even YouTube” They cannot connect with their friends on social media. They don’t have access to the World Wide Web in the palm of their hand, ready to explore whatever thoughts cross their mind.
According to a study by the Aspin Institute, three-quarters of new jobs created by 2030 will require digital skills. It is easy to think that those two to three students didn’t raise their hands. I often wonder about those students who could become the citizens who fall through the cracks and cannot get those jobs meaning they cannot reach their full potential because of circumstances they had no control over.
In the early days of the pandemic, the internet company’s offered hotspots and discounted prices for services; the path forward requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to get these students to a level playing field. Everyone agrees that investment is required for wireless broadband internet, and the infrastructure bill that President Biden signed in November will be a much-needed boost. This period will be one of the most important for students, and they need to know the resources available to them.
For rural communities to have a level playing field, technology has to be a part of the solution, or else the internet gap will continue to grow between the halves and the have-nots, and we will be worse for it.
