Tuesday, April 22, 2003
|
|
|
Firm's Survey of College-Bound Students Finds No Digital Divide Among ThemBy SCOTT CARLSON
A Baltimore market-research firm that surveyed 500 college-bound high-school students of different races contends that the digital divide no longer exists among them. But the researchers think the gap probably still exists among students who are not headed for college. Among those interviewed about their computer and Internet use were 100 African-American students and another 100 students of color from various ethnic backgrounds. The students who were polled had earned scores of at least 800 on the SAT. The researchers -- from the firm Art & Science Group -- found what they called "marginal" differences in computer use between white and black students, although white students still used computers slightly more in most cases. For example, 97 percent of white students had access to computers at home, compared with 94 percent of black students. Eighty-one percent of white students had access to computers at school, compared with 71 percent of black students. White and black students also used computers similarly, although black students used the Internet for research and for searching for information about colleges more often than whites. Richard A. Hesel, who supervised the survey for the Art & Science Group, says he was initially surprised at the findings. "It ran against conventional wisdom," he says. "But when we thought about it, it made sense. If you're in that pool of students bound to four-year colleges, it usually means that things have happened in the home and decisions have been made about what kinds of knowledge and tools you should have access to." However, he adds, the digital divide probably still exists among students who are not planning to go to four-year colleges, as students in this survey were. "You can still be very concerned about students who were not in our pool," he says. "I suspect we would have seen something different if we had looked at those students, but we didn't." Mr. Hesel expects that some people will have trouble believing the survey's results. "For those who insist on believing that African-Americans are disadvantaged in a way our data refutes," he writes in a publisher's note in the report, "may we dare to suggest that such attitudes may very well be a subtle and unintentional form of racism." But Lynette M. Kvasny, an assistant professor of information sciences and technology at Pennsylvania State University, still sees a stark difference in skills between students who come from rural areas and those who come from metropolitan areas -- and who typically have far more access to computers and broadband Internet connections. And she notes a dearth of black students in high-paying technology fields -- a substantial digital divide, in her view. White students often have parents who work in technology, providing a valuable source of support and guidance. She says that because of poor advice in high school and at home, black students have often been encouraged to shoot low. She says she was such a student herself. "I was interested in technology, but I was steered toward vocational school to learn how to mount tapes on mainframes," she says. Only through the pushing of good teachers did she enroll in college. And even so, she says, "I started college at a deficit."
Background articles from The Chronicle:
|
|
|
|
 Report being sent to high schools outlines what college freshmen need to know to succeed Some faculty members question whether changes at U. of Southern Mississippi take emphasis away from teaching Spring commencement speakers are announced by 20 colleges Firm's survey of college-bound students finds no digital divide among them |
Copyright © 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education