Closing the Gap

So it's been a while as I've been out of town and crazy busy with visitors. While I was traveling, I came across an article in the NEA today magazine titled "Mind the Gap". It's an article about using technology in education and how all students are at different levels with their knowledge and experience. This needs to be taken into consideration when incorporating into the curriculum. The article tells the story of students who have very limited access and have to travel miles to use a public computer just to look up jobs and apply to colleges. The article titles this gap in the digital divide the 'participation gap' because these students have fewer opportunities to work with computers and develop their digital literacy. In the world today, it is becoming essential to know and understand technology. Andrew Rasiej, helps members of Congress understand the use of the Internet in politics and policy. He believes that internet access should be in every home and that companies should assist with this as Ma Bell did with connecting everyone to a dial tone. He started a program called Mouse.org which helps inner-city kids understand technology and he has seen the rate of college attendance increase from less than 50 percent to 90 percent. We need more people like Rasiej to help close this gap.

Another interesting point in the article is that children that live below the poverty level often don't have access to computers or the internet at home which puts them at a disadvantaged right off the bat. If the students don't work with the computers often, they will spend more time being frustrated with the tool rather than the material. It will put these students at a greater disadvantage than they already are and will often frustrate them and possibly cause further failure. I am taking an Education and Welfare class during my time in Ireland which has opened my eyes to the education opportunities for the disadvantaged. Why put them at a greater weakness than they already are? Many families have just enough money to get by and don't have extra money to spend on material things such as computers. This is why it's important to assess each student's individual skills and experience before throwing content at them that they won't understand.

You always hear in education about the achievement gap and how it needs to be closed to better our education system. We need to do our best with this digital divide and 'participation gap' so as to not open a further issue of development in education.