Mar 1
Equality and Inclusion within the Digital World
There is currently a large digital divide within our country, and one of the main ethnical concerns around that is the difficulty in having access to, or even owning a device. The lack of access is something that is difficult to believe in this day and age because it seems like everyone and anyone has some type of digital device in their posession. In an article from edweek.org, written by Mark Liberman, Mark talks about how internet access is a civil rights issue. He says this because the lack of access of the internet during the pandemic “puts schools in an especially difficult position as they expand their use of technology during the pandemic”. I agree with his opinion on this because if not everyone has access to the internet or if the school cannot provide for this during a time of fear and panic, puts the next generation of students and adults at a disadvantage.
Some key strategies I feel like would be necessary to fix this issue or fight it, would be finding some way of funding the school for technology for all students, although it would be difficult since new and current devices seem to be getting more and more expensive, some ways to gain money would be if they host a fundraiser or take some money away from a program that is not gaining much attraction, or even asking the district for more money and hopefully getting approved would aid in a lot of technological disadvantages some students could face because of cost. From govtech.com in an article by Brandon Payakamian, he wrote that President Joe Biden’s budget could give schools the freedom to invest in tech. He says this because sometime in April 2021, Payakamian says, “the Biden administration released a draft of its $1.5 trillion budget, which asks for significant increases in education spending” this aids schooling in a lot of sectors, but it mostly helps with teachers having to teach away from the classroom in case of medical emergencies or COVID-19 related issues. So as we get closer to discovering a cure or the number of cases go down, I think the change towards technology will help the education system a lot.
