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A Technology Crisis Facing Minority Students
In 1999, the Department of Commerce published a report entitled, Falling through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, in which they found, "providing public access to the Internet gives certain groups the opportunity to advance by providing them with technical skills which are needed to compete in the digital economy." Those who have access to technology are being afforded more opportunities than ever before, but one must also think about what happens to those being left behind. There is a global discussion occurring surrounding the issue of the "haves and have-nots." Most research on the subject has uncovered what has come to be known as the "digital divide" or the separation between those who have access to and can effectively use technology and those who do and cannot.
This article discusses how the digital divide affects minority students at home and school. Data from the Department of Commerce, Educational Testing Service, and other sources show that this population of students is not only the least likely to have access to computers at home, but also the least likely to gain access at school. Two programs are discussed, the College Reach-Out Program (CROP) and the Community Technology Center at Jacob Riis Neighborhood Settlement House, which are working to overcome these inequities by exposing minority children to enriching computer activities. It is the author's opinion that alternative access opportunities must be created for these students, and the projects the students work on give them a different view of how computers fit into their present and future lives.
HOME COMPUTER OWNERSHIP
There are large disparities between the access opportunities of the rich vs. poor and ethnic majority vs. ethnic minority populations. The 2000 report, Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion, from the U.S. Department of Commerce is the most recent data available on home computer ownership. It is evident that gains have been made across ethnic groups in acquiring home computers. As can be seen in Figure 1, all groups have experienced significant increases in home technology ownership. However, what is not immediately evident is how this growth has impacted the divide in access opportunities of different groups. The 1998 gaps between Whites and minority groups, with regard to computer...