WP4 Draft

Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed the swift progression of technology and its impact on society. It has created artificial intelligence, advanced infusion pumps and dialysis machines, cloud computing, and electric vehicles. We also observed the progression of the internet, which revolutionized communication and changed how we work, live, and school. The impact of the internet and technology has transformed our lives by making our daily lives easier, faster, and more convenient. The same benefits apply to any student’s life to successfully complete school, but many low-income students have inadequate access to the internet or technology, such as tablets and laptops, which lowers their chance of going to college. Roughly 75 percent of students have access to the internet at home (Lieberman), but what happens to the other 25 percent?

The students who lack access to the internet and technology struggle in school because their resources are limited, such as research tools, studying tools, and access to assignments. As technology has advanced over the past decade, the education system changed its curriculum to online learning or shaped it around online learning. Many assignments and classroom materials are shown online, which increased the need for the internet and technology for students. Students from low-income backgrounds struggle to purchase tablets or laptops needed to complete their assignments, and proper internet at home is needed to work their devices. I believe that schools should help low-income students by providing laptops and internet access at home so they can have an equal chance of applying to college compared to students from higher-income families.

We understand that college is important to improve personal skills, occupy a stable career, and increase income, but many students from low-income families run into problems that hinder their ability to apply to college. High students from low-income backgrounds lack the funds and resources to own a laptop or have working internet at home. Many of these students rely on outside sources for information about higher education, but without proper resources, they are less likely to have informational resources (Brown, Wohn, and Ellison), such as college information, requirements, and how to apply to college. As I look back at my college application process, my applications were 100 percent online, and without a laptop loaned to me by my high school, the process would have been difficult to complete. Providing all low-income students with the necessary tools helps broaden their future choices and gives them a chance to improve themselves by having access to information about how to apply to college, information about different institutions, and helping them prepare to tackle higher education.

Laptops and home internet are essential tools that set up high school students for success and prepare them for college. COVID-19 enforced temporary online learning for students, and this opened a new opportunity to help students gain success academically. This gave students an opportunity to experience a different way of learning compared to traditional in-person teaching. This allowed educators to strengthen instructions and challenge students due to a sudden global crisis. Astonishingly students showed improved academic performance, but these students came from higher-income families. People from different backgrounds may believe that giving low-income students laptops and internet at home, will solve all their issues. However, I argue that the issue drives deeper than just handing out laptops and internet access because COVID-19 also revealed this.

COVID-19’s effect on school closure was an epiphany that revealed the negative benefits of doing just that, giving students laptops and internet access. Approximately 90 percent of educators said there was one device for every middle and high school student as of March 2021 (Klein). You would assume that since students were given the essential tools for school they would flourish, but this wasn’t the case. As stated by Frontiers in Psychology, “students from low socioeconomic status were negatively impacted in their learning due to the little time to prepare or adapt to remote learning (Hammerstein 2021). Low-income students lack access to tutors and test preparation and experience higher stress levels than students from high-income families. Students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds were given equal access to resources during the pandemic, but low-income students continued to score poorly academically, this proves that giving low-income students laptops and internet access is not the key to solving this issue.

Coming from a low-income background, I easily relate to the challenges faced when it comes to applying to college without proper resources. I was fortunate enough to be loaned a laptop and mobile hotspot from my school, which without, would have rendered my academic performance and college applications. From experience living in the Navajo Nation, many low-income students were given free laptops or discounted mobile hotspots from schools or programs, but these government-funded programs failed to realize that the Navajo Nation, like many tribal communities, consists of rural lands with limited cellular towers, inadequate electricity, and infrastructure. This helped me realize that the first step to understanding how to solve this issue is through research. Handing out the tools to communities in need is not an effective solution without understanding and listening to the community first. By researching the environment and backgrounds of low-income students, we’ll get a deeper understanding of their reality, which helps gives us an idea of how to move forward to solving this issue.

Another critical tool that helps take down barriers that are stopping low-income students from applying to college, is to create programs or events that prepare or provide help to students. As you research low-income students and their backgrounds or demographic, the information learned helps you get an understanding of what areas need to be targeted. As I look at students in South Central LA, I find many similarities between my community to theirs, but predominantly low-income communities in large cities, like South Central LA, have more surrounding resources available, unlike my community. Suppose we research low-income students and study their background, environment, and surrounding factors. In that case, this helps us gain paramount knowledge to pair with partners in the community and continue the ongoing discussion of the problem. Low-income students in South Central LA have a variety of establishments that provide free public wi-fi, access to educational organizations, and have help given by surrounding institutions, for example, USC given aid to high school students at 826LA. Low-income students in my community have limited access to public Wi-Fi because residents on tribal reservations must travel far distances to seek public wi-fi and educational establishments. Both communities and low-income students suffer profoundly from a lack of resources, but they also have many differences, and with simple research, the differences arise that help finds solutions that uniquely fit the right community. For schools in rural areas or towns with smaller populations, hosting events that provide help on applying to college or giving out information about college applications, give low-income students a higher chance of applying to college. For high schools in bigger cities, like South Central LA, creating programs that assist students to get to college is a way to overcome the challenges of high education.

Creating such organizations that target each distinctive community behind low-income students, helps raise the chances that all students have equal access to applying to college. Low-income students face many barriers, such as a lack of college readiness, tutoring, and financial assistance, which continues into college. The low-income students who continue their higher education still face many barriers in college and Oregon Gear Up states low-income students are 2.4 times higher to drop out compared to their middle-class peers and are 10.5 times more likely to drop out compared to high-income students. Assisting and providing low-income students with knowledge on applying to college and providing college readiness courses, helps low-income students successfully tackle college and increases their chances of getting their degree.

All students from any socioeconomic status should have the same opportunity to apply to college. It’s unfair that low-income students have many challenges arise while wanting to better themselves academically and professionally. Every community is different in its unique ways, by researching and learning about where low-income high school students come from, helps create ideas of how to aid and is an opportunity to continuously spread awareness about this silent issue. As technology and the internet continue to advance and dominate society, it should become easily accessible to high school students and help them prepare for their future endeavors.