Written by Raj Ashar
Amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, a fiery debate has ensued over the reopening of schools across the country. Proponents of reopening contend that the potential health risks of reopening are outweighed by the harmful effects of having an online semester, while opponents argue that the U.S. currently does not have adequate safety measures in place to open up schools. Both options are far from optimal, but one issue seems to be overshadowed in this debate: the need for increased internet access.
One of the crucial reasons that online education is discounted as a solution for this semester is the lack of reliable internet access. A child lacking internet in an online semester equates to a child not having transportation to school during an in-person semester. This lack of access is prevalent in low-income school districts that have already been falling behind for years. In Baltimore, 40.7% of households (Horrigan 2) did not have wireline internet service and approximately one in three households did not have a laptop or desktop computer. Nearly 20,000 households that did not have wireline internet or computers housed children under the age of 17 (Horrigan 2). According to the University of Michigan’s Urban Collaboratory, a whopping 70% of Detroit’s school-age children do not have internet access at home. However, rural areas face the same issues: 26.4% of the population in rural areas lack internet access (Rachfal and Gilroy 3).
When the pandemic stopped our lives, the kids in already struggling school districts were left behind. As the pandemic spread, many criticized the government for not having the public health measures in place to safely reopen schools, but the lack of preparedness for an online fall semester is even more concerning. Unlike the need for personal protective equipment and testing, the need for internet access will not disappear when the pandemic is gone; it will persist, and already has for years. A study by the National Center of Education Statistics found that those who had internet access scored on average 25 points higher than those who lacked internet access on a reading test out of 500 points. Furthermore, no matter which way you cut it: by race, by sex, by school locale, by school lunch eligibility: within all these groups, those who had internet access on average scored higher.
This effect will not just stop with test scores: lower test scores could have downstream effects of lower educational attainment, which might then impact lifetime earnings. A 2008 paper by Paul DiMaggio and Bart Bonikowski found a positive association between internet use and wages, and this was based on data from 2001, a time when the internet did not rule our lives like it does today. Dimaggio and Bonikowski cite the ability of the internet to provide human and social capital as the main sources of increased wages. For students today, this is truer than ever. Sites like Khan Academy offer free supplements or replacements to the classroom education, and social networks are a crux of adolescent interaction, even more so since the pandemic started. The more essential the internet is to our lives, the worse social and fiscal inequality will become.
The good news is that some localities are trying to take action to expand internet access. Alabama allocated $100 million from the CARES Act to expand internet access (Crain). Ohio allocated $50 million of CARES Act funding for providing internet to students (Ohio Department of Education). However, just as there have been calls for a national testing plan, there needs to be a nationwide internet plan to get access to those at risk of being left behind.
In 2010, the Federal Communications Commission created a plan aimed at expanding internet access. This plan did a lot of good, but not enough as we can see access is still an issue today. There are a myriad of steps that can be taken to increase access; The Brookings Institution recently released a report highlighting five steps that could be taken which includes measures such as offering direct payments rather than subsidies for broadband buildout, and allowing any qualified constructor to receive the contracts rather than just the telephone companies.
It is also important to recognize that despite the potential monetary costs of a national initiative, the benefits will not only be felt immediately, but for years down the road. The internet provides an avenue for economic mobility. Today, during a global pandemic and during a time of severe income inequality, we need it the most. Like it or not, the internet will play a vital role in the society of the future. For most during quarantine, the internet provided a connection to the outside world. For many students in the fall, it will provide a connection to the education that fuels their futures. A lack of internet access means a disconnect not only from most of today’s society, but for our children, a disconnect from education during their formative years. In our modern world, with more things shifting completely online, it is no longer acceptable to see internet access as a privilege; we need to value it as a human right.
References
Crain, T. P. (2020, July 31). Alabama to give $100 million in internet vouchers for low-income students. AL.Com. https://www.al.com/news/2020/07/alabama-to-give-100-million-in-internet-vouchers-for-low-income-students.html
DiMaggio, P., & Bonikowski, B. (2008). Make Money Surfing the Web? The Impact of Internet Use on the Earnings of U.S. Workers. American Sociological Review, 73(2), 227–250. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240807300203
Horrigan, J. (2020). Baltimore’s Digital Divide: Gaps in Internet Connectivity and the Impact on Low-Income City Residents. Abell Foundation. https://www.abell.org/sites/default/files/files/2020_Abell_digital%20divide_full%20report_FINAL_web%20(dr).pdf
Mapping Detroit’s Digital Divide. (n.d.). Urban Collaboratory at the University of Michigan. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.urbanlab.umich.edu/project/mapping-detroits-digital-divide/
Rachfal, C., & Gilroy, A. (n.d.). Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs (No. RL30719). Congressional Research Service. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30719
Student Access to Digital Learning Resources Outside of the Classroom. (n.d.). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017098/ind_15.asp
Wheeler, T. (2020). 5 steps to get the internet to all Americans. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/research/5-steps-to-get-the-internet-to-all-americans/
$50 million in grant funding available to help students gain internet access | Ohio Department of Education. (n.d.). [8/10/2020]. Ohio Department of Education. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from http://education.ohio.gov/Media/Ed-Connection/Aug-10-2020/50-million-in-grant-funding-available-to-help-stu