Digital Inequality

Right now I'm scanning the articles about digital inequality, and I can see how this will become a big issue in education. I am a "Big," meaning I'm a big sister in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, and my "little" doesn't have internet access at home. She has access to tons of TV channels and has a cell phone and such, but she doesn't have a computer that works properly or that's connected to the world wide web. As she starts Haywood Early College this August, I'm  concerned about her ability to stay on the same level with the other kids for this reason.

She'll have a harder time researching for homework. She'll have a harder time accessing resources that will help her where her aunt and uncle (her guardians) can't. She'll have a harder time fitting in in some ways, since she won't have the same levels of access to everything that goes on on the internet. There are probably many, many more circumstances in which she'll be impacted that I'm not covering here.

I think this is is one simple way her aunt and uncle can make a pretty big difference in her life and education, and I hope after she starts school they see how valuable having both her own working laptop or desktop and internet connectivity will be to her for educational and social reasons, so I hope they take the plunge and provide that for her. She's already got some good things going for her, brains, guardians who care about her school work who want her to complete a four year degree, and the fact that she was accepted into Early College, but I think she needs this as well.