Digital Divide

"Students with broadband Internet access at home may have an advantage over those who don't"

Students in Hillcrest High School South Carolina students are now listening to lectures on video before class, putting the new knowledge to practice in the classroom, where their teachers are there to help.

This is one of the many new ways education is being delivered these days, through online streaming.

More than two-thirds of low-income families in South Carolina don't have internet connection, meaning that overall, 57 percent of households in the state have broadband access. But students have access to computer labs before, during and after school. Some students may go to libraries or find Wi-Fi hotspots.

Some believe that not having internet at home teaches students to manage time more wisely rather than playing around. But that it's up to the teachers to keep a home technology deficit from being a disadvantage to students.

Most schools are not assigning web-based homework because of the digital divide, and there is not much the district can to make opportunities more equal.

South Carolina was moving to developing a system that could put an internet cloud over the state, but after four years, nothing has happened. They also developed another program that would be available for low-income students

Digital Divide does cause some issues when it comes to education first, economic equality serves as a problem because the internet is becoming a basic component in life. Like the schools are starting to rely on online lectures and electronic books. This is not fair to the people that do not have easy access to the internet or a computer.

Another problem that it causes is the social mobility, the students are not easily accessible to move up in the social standing, there are students that have a head start if the parents can support, but there are some that are not able to keep up and be able to have the same opportunity of learning.

Education would like to introduce more media technology into their classrooms but they are not able to do so since there is not much anyone can do to equalize.

South Carolina, tried to develop a system but no one started to participate in the system. If just one district of South Carolina could not do it in four years, there is no way digital divide could be settled in the whole world.