Broadband Internet Can Level The Playing Field For Latinos
The White House Initiative on Education Excellence for Hispanics was originally helmed by the administration of President George H.W. Bush to address the disparity in education rates between Latinos, whites, and African-Americans. In October of 2010, the initiative was renewed by the Obama administration, which capitalized on the move to woo older, more educated Latino voters.
In October of 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported on the “stagnant” college graduation rates for Latinos. Couple this with the little known statistic that posits that only half of black and Latino youth are graduating high school in urban areas, and the picture becomes even more dismal. For example, “According to the American Council on Education, a Washington lobbying group, today’s 25- to 34-year-olds are no better educated than their baby-boomer predecessors.”
This is worrying because it means that the educational stagnation experienced by Latinos has already eaten through my generation, and it shows little regard for abating any time soon. So, what role can technology play in leveling the playing field?
In a recent study, titled, “Latinos and Digital Technology,” the Pew Hispanic Center came out with interesting usage distinctions between Latinos, blacks, and whites. For example, it found that, “In terms of broadband use at home, there is a large gap between Latinos (45%) and whites (65%), and the rate among blacks (52%) is somewhat higher than that of Latinos.”
While it is still preferable to obtain a top-notch education at a brick-and-mortar institution, a large facet of education, of being a student, and a life-long learner is taking place on the Internet. While the Internet is fraught with illicit activity, pornography, and spam, it is also an organic outgrowth of our collective knowledge and the repository of our shared memory as a culture. I am not saying that if you don’t have a broadband connection and then you get one you are going to become a professor, but many of the cultural structures and signage that determine your future life in our hyper-connected society are taking place on the internet.
In other words, I would like to argue that installing broadband in your home can, with the proper guidance, help Latino children advance educationally. If you don’t believe me, think of all the homework help websites associated with public libraries and all the websites out there that give free S.A.T. advice. Of course, if you get a subscription to broadband so that you can watch all of Chicharito’s Manchester matches or catch up on those episodes of Jersey shore from the MTV website, I doubt your I.Q. (our your child’s) will budge.
But, if we start acting more like the information-rich, up-to-the-minute U.S. affluent, then maybe our ideas concerning education will evolve and progress. In conclusion, in 2010 the Department of Commerce published a study with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration titled, “Digital Nation.” The rates for usage by income are interesting because in October of 2009, 88.7% of broadband users reported an income of $150,000 or more.
I guess you can make a clear correlation between access to information and access to affluence.
Yago Cura is a writer based in Los Angeles. He edits the online journal Hinchas de Poesia and moderates the blog Spicaresque. Follow him on Twitter @theshusher
[Photo By idogcow]
