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Survey Finds 85% of Underserved Students Have Access To Only One Digital Device (educationdive.com)

Posted by msmash on from the digital-divide dept.

A new research [PDF] on students who took the ACT test, conducted by the ACT Center for Equity in Learning, found that 85% of underserved (meaning low income, minority, or first generation in college) students had access to only one device at home, most often a smartphone. From a blog post: American Indian/Alaskan, Hispanic/Latino, and African American students had the least access. White and Asian students had the most. Nearly a quarter of students who reported that family income was less that $36,000 a year had access to only a single device at home, a 19% gap compared to students whose family income was more than $100,000.

25 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Only one device? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sounds like first world problems, mate.

    1. Re:Only one device? by jonsmirl · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Comcast will sell you 15Mb Internet for $10/mth and a brand new computer for $150.
      https://www.internetessentials...

      The US is littered with used computers. Just ask around and you will find some spare ones and can avoid the $150.

    2. Re:Only one device? by El+Cubano · · Score: 4, Informative

      The US is littered with used computers. Just ask around and you will find some spare ones and can avoid the $150.

      Another good option: FreeGeek in Portland (and on Wikipedia if you want to see some of the other locations).

    3. Re:Only one device? by Wycliffe · · Score: 4, Informative

      The US is littered with used computers. Just ask around and you will find some spare ones and can avoid the $150.

      Yep. I recently took about 50 computers and enough parts to build 50 more to the scrap yard. They pay $2 per pound for disassembled computers and 5 cents per pound for fully assembled computers. I took several dozen apart and made $100 and then sold the rest for the 5 cents because it wasn't worth my time to disassemble them. I regularly see computers on the curb on trash day and you have to PAY to dispose of CRTs. I disposed of several 19 inch and 21 inch CRTs that likely have much better picture quality and refresh rates than most of the cheap LCDs they currently sell. Nobody wants them.

    4. Re: Only one device? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      It is a first world problem; but if you live in the first world that doesn't help you much.

      In the educational context(which appears to be where this research was being done), things aren't going to go so well for you if you've got a household with contention over the computer and a bunch of homework that assumes you have one.

  2. Are you sure... by cirby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...they're not just trendy?

    A lot of under-25 people I know only have a smartphone. No desktop, no laptop, not even a TV set.

    Just a phone - with access to the entire Internet.

    1. Re:Are you sure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My family was 'rich'. We had 1 computer that did not have the internet. I think we did OK.

      The internet is great for looking things up. But it is not the end all be all of education. That takes time and perseverance. Always has. Just giving someone a computer does not make them smart.

    2. Re:Are you sure... by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      What if the family only has one person? Or one person and a toddler (who should not have devices).

    3. Re:Are you sure... by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Times have changed, but people are still people. You can become a top tier scientist without growing up with computers or modern phones. Probably better without, as the 'smart' phones tend to make people dumb.

      Start with solid education FIRST. Learn to do arithmetic without a calculator, learn to do research without Google, learn to read a book without swiping, and draw a picture without a mouse.

    4. Re:Are you sure... by tepples · · Score: 2

      learn to do research without Google

      Did you mean DuckDuckGo or Bing? Because public library branches aren't open today.

    5. Re:Are you sure... by robsku · · Score: 2

      By what definition of the word are smartphones and tablets not computers? Yes, they are different from desktop and laptop computers, as laptops are different from desktop and tablets/smartphones, but they still very much are mobile handheld computers.

      I guess you didn't think of PDA's as computers either.

      --
      In capitalist USA corporations control the government.
    6. Re:Are you sure... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you have to use the internet to do research, then you're screwed because they it doesn't have all the stuff you need, especially at college level or higher.

      At college level the internet usually has access to the widest variety of scientific papers compared to any other level.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re: Are you sure... by c6gunner · · Score: 5, Informative

      Start with solid education FIRST. Learn to do arithmetic without a calculator, learn to do research without Google, learn to read a book without swiping

      Agreed, that's very important. Like, for example, if the author of this idiotic article had learned proper arithmetic she would know that "85% of those with only one device were underserved" is not the same thing as "85% of the underserved have only one device".

      Either that or if she had developed decent reading skills she would have looked at page 5 of the paper and seen there, in clear English, the words "Overall, just under one in five (19%) students from 'underserved' backgrounds report having access to only one device at homeâ"more than three times higher than the percent of students not qualifying as underserved who reported this"

      Unfortunately she never developed such basic skills, and thus ended up having to work as a "reporter".

    8. Re:Are you sure... by jpaine619 · · Score: 2

      The fuck they aren't.. My county has about 20 public libraries and they are all open 7 days a week. Books AND free internet access.

      What shitty part of the world do you live in?

  3. "Underserved?" by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    underserved (meaning low income, minority, or first generation in college)

    So ... being a minority, by definition, means you are underserved? Being the first person in your family to go to college means you are being underserved?

    This sort of "words no longer mean anything" crap has completely swamped the entire educational establishment.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re:"Underserved?" by El+Cubano · · Score: 2

      So ... being a minority, by definition, means you are underserved? Being the first person in your family to go to college means you are being underserved?

      I get where you are coming from. However, the fact remains that there is a fairly strong correlation between parental educational attainment and offspring educational attainment. Both parents went to college, kids will almost definitely go to college. One parent went to college, still better than even chance that the kids will go to college. Neither parent went to college, then the chances of a kid going to college drop off a cliff.

      This is likely for two reasons: 1) parents who did not go to college are less likely to emphasize that their kids go to college; 2) people who did not go to college tend to earn less than those who did and we all know about the cost of education these days.

      Based on that, I think it is entirely logical to consider that the first person in their family to attend college is something other than the expected norm. Now, whether that should qualify as "underserved" or not, I don't know.

      This sort of "words no longer mean anything" crap has completely swamped the entire educational establishment.

      I have to agree with you here. Of course, it is not just the educational establishment. The political establishment suffers from it and even some parts of the scientific establishment. Plenty to go around.

    2. Re: "Underserved?" by c6gunner · · Score: 2

      In America, statistically yes definitely.

      That's not how statistics work. Unless you're suggesting that 100% of minorities in America are undeserved. In which case you're an idiot and probably don't know any minorities.

  4. How they do it by MikeRT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    * Lump all black socio economic groups together as simply "African-American."
    * Break whites down, somewhat, by socio-economic group.

    That's how they skew the results and make it look like being a minority is intrinsically a doomed position. It is guaranteed to drown out the story of the black middle class.

    1. Re:How they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Also never note the fact that Asian and Indian Americans have higher household earnings than whites.

      Got to keep that narrative going.

  5. Title is wrong, should be 19% by Solandri · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you read TFA, the percentage of "underserved" kids with access to only one device is 19% (compared to 6% for "served" kids). Nowhere near as alarming as 85%.

    Of the students who have access to only one computing device, 85% are "underserved", 15% are not. That's where the 85% figure comes from. I'd cut and paste the relevant quotes, but the PDF has the stupid no-copy flag.

  6. US History by DogDude · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It has to do with history. Low Income people, minorities, and people who are the first of their families in college have historically had a very hard time getting ahead in the US. It's a fact. Sorry that upsets you so much, snowflake.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:US History by jpaine619 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are a fucking LIAR.

      There are only 3 steps you need to have a 97% chance of ending up in the middle class.

      1. Graduate High School. (not college, just high school)
      2. Stay out of prison. (don't commit felonies)
      3. Don't have a child out of wedlock (use a rubber or learn to like blowjobs)

      That's it....

      You do those three things and the odds are very much in your favor that you'll do just fine in this country. Nobody out there is trying to "keep you down", asshole.
      Most people end up where they are because of the choices that they have made. When you make bad choices, you have to pay the piper... Well, unless you subscribe to the liberal mindset, in which case nothing is ever your fault..

      Do you all sit around all day imagining that rich people are gathered in dimly lit rooms, smoking cigars, and drinking single malt whiskey, while planning on how to keep poor people "in their place"?

      For fuck's sake...

      Yeah, those 3%, they'll do all the right stuff and luck or the system will shit on them, and that sucks... But most people will do just fine.

    2. Re:US History by magzteel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Kid, you have spent too much time reading Ayn Rand. As you get older, if you're smart and open to ideas, you'll learn that it ain't as simple as you describe.

      There are a LOT of other factors that go into whether or not a person is successful in the US other than the few you describe.

      I won't call you a "fucking LIAR", but I will call you ignorant. Luckily, that IS something you can remedy on your own. Best of luck, snowflake.

      How about these this study from the Brookings institute
      https://www.brookings.edu/opin...

      Or this one, from Britain
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne...

      It's not a guarantee of success, any more than using condoms guarantees no pregnancies or STD's.
      But you wouldn't argue against condom use just because sometimes people who use them still create babies.

      Is there really anything in the advice given that you would argue against? I've given my kids more or less the same advice. Their future is an open book filled with promise, as long as they don't do anything fatally stupid like creating a baby, getting a record, dropping out of high school, getting drug addicted, etc. Do you advise your kids otherwise?

  7. Re: Why is that even a problem by c6gunner · · Score: 2

    Or you could go without for 3 months, save that $45 each month, and buy a secondhand android device for $135. Then for the next 15 months save your $45 each month, and have $675 to buy a laptop.

    Unfortunately budgeting and self-control seem to be rare skills indeed.

  8. A smartphone will do a lot by scourfish · · Score: 2

    I use a cheap, secondhand smartphone for almost all of my daily web activity, and for personal enrichment. I've applied for jobs on it, tailored my resume on it, am learning a second language with it, and any technical manual I need is always available. A poor person using only a cheap, internet connected smartphone is a good choice in frugality, and still gives them infinite ways to enrich themselves.