What Those Empty Seats Cost Our Generation: Redefining Access to Education
I saw some teenagers bunched together in a McDonald’s the other day. They were sitting side-by-side, maskless, staring at their cellphones. They sat on the empty car lot and looked at the screen with glaring intensity.
Curious, I took a peek and saw a video of a teacher lecturing — albeit in a laggy, low resolution state. They were using a worn out smartphone to attend class, and were borrowing WiFi from a fast food chain they had no intention of purchasing from.
As I was about to leave, their internet connection got cut off.
The last few months have left students in lower income households disconnected.
Even pre-COVID, only a third of college-age students in Southeast Asia choose to enroll, mostly because of financial constraints or a lack of perceived value. The recent shift to distance learning has made this statistic worse.
From a financial standpoint, they’re squeezed from both sides. Their source of household income is at risk. Add the cost of a device, internet access, and utilities, and the barriers to education seem insurmountable.
If I were still a student, I would take a gap year to develop new skills — attend an online course, learn an instrument, master a new language. But I am fortunate enough to have other alternatives to my time.
But what about the millions of other students who are forced to take a “gap year”? What happens to those unfilled college seats , those unattended virtual sessions ? Those empty seats will cost our generation.
What is the cost of an unfinished degree?
The true cost of incomplete college units goes beyond the impact to an individual student’s lifetime earnings. There are ecosystem, generation-wide implications that impact us all. That is why we should care.
- We risk a generation of dire social inequality. As many countries in Southeast Asia rapidly transition into knowledge economies, those left behind by the education system will be hardest hit.
- We limit diversity and innovation in the workplace. Education, when done well, fosters curiosity and innovation needed for social progress. Without the diversity of lived experiences in our future leaders, we become stagnant as a society.
- We risk getting left behind. I fundamentally believe that job creation and the supply of appropriate skills is a two-sided marketplace. We need human capital to attract investment capital. Education can drive the creation of ‘new economy’ jobs.
The cost goes beyond lost wages. We lose a large part of our future.
College is still worth it, but we need to make sure it’s worth it for everyone.
The term ‘access to education’ has broadened in this age of distance learning, though the financial aspect remains core to the issue.
It is true that distance learning has reduced the geographic barriers for a quality education, but it has compounded the cost of access in many other ways. The type of device you use, the speed of your internet, and the comfort of your home setup all become necessary investments.
No matter how difficult the learning environment today seems, however, I argue that college is still worth it. This is true especially for the students most at-risk of dropping out. They are the ones with the most to lose.
No matter how strange the experience is, college to them is still worth it, because social mobility should not be delayed.
We need to broaden our definition of equitable access to education. What can schools do?
- Focus on student retention. It’s difficult to convince a student that has dropped out (for primarily financial reasons) to return. The barriers and frictions magnify once you exit the system. Employment as an alternate option to school, and the psychological impact of feeling left behind, are all huge disincentives. It’s best to provide a financial bridge for student retention. The lifetime value of a college graduate is worth it.
- Design for digital equity. As a teacher, I am a big advocate for ‘small teaching’ — designing curricula and materials to be as low-res as possible. Focus on the most accessible way to achieve learner outcomes, and not on using technology for technology’s sake. Design for the worst internet connection, and do not leave anyone behind.
- Educate the whole human. Even if the only success metric of schools was their number of graduates, education extends beyond the classroom. Addressing issues like mental health and social anxiety should be part of the learning experience.
No one can bridge this gap alone.
As we worked with schools these past few months, it is evident no one can address student needs on their own. The challenges in distance learning, internet connectivity, financial access, and mental wellness are all daunting feats. The education system is sorely in need of cross-sector partnerships.
But I have reasons to be optimistic. In my years of working within a university, I have never seen such a rapid push for innovation, mass collaboration, and a learner-centric mindset. Almost overnight, the silos disappeared.
I know that over time, distance learning (and blended learning once the situation normalizes) can be designed with equity. We can redefine what it means to have access to education. After all, we’re all aligned in who we are working for. And what we’re working towards.
We work so those students taking classes outside McDonald’s can learn. We work to make sure that education holds on to its promise — that it is a bridge, and not an additional barrier to new opportunities.
