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Education United States

Survey Finds 85% of Underserved Students Have Access To Only One Digital Device (educationdive.com) 216

Posted by msmash from the digital-divide dept.
A new research [PDF] on students who took the ACT test, conducted by the ACT Center for Equity in Learning, found that 85% of underserved (meaning low income, minority, or first generation in college) students had access to only one device at home, most often a smartphone. From a blog post: American Indian/Alaskan, Hispanic/Latino, and African American students had the least access. White and Asian students had the most. Nearly a quarter of students who reported that family income was less that $36,000 a year had access to only a single device at home, a 19% gap compared to students whose family income was more than $100,000.
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Survey Finds 85% of Underserved Students Have Access To Only One Digital Device More

Survey Finds 85% of Underserved Students Have Access To Only One Digital Device

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  • Only one device? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Sounds like first world problems, mate.

    • Re:Only one device? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by jonsmirl ( 114798 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @02:23PM (#57324158) Homepage

      Comcast will sell you 15Mb Internet for $10/mth and a brand new computer for $150.
      https://www.internetessentials... [internetessentials.com]

      The US is littered with used computers. Just ask around and you will find some spare ones and can avoid the $150.

      • Re:Only one device? (Score:5, Informative)

        by El Cubano ( 631386 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @02:41PM (#57324242)

        The US is littered with used computers. Just ask around and you will find some spare ones and can avoid the $150.

        Another good option: FreeGeek [freegeek.org] in Portland (and on Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] if you want to see some of the other locations).

      • Re:Only one device? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Wycliffe ( 116160 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @04:22PM (#57324570) Homepage

        The US is littered with used computers. Just ask around and you will find some spare ones and can avoid the $150.

        Yep. I recently took about 50 computers and enough parts to build 50 more to the scrap yard. They pay $2 per pound for disassembled computers and 5 cents per pound for fully assembled computers. I took several dozen apart and made $100 and then sold the rest for the 5 cents because it wasn't worth my time to disassemble them. I regularly see computers on the curb on trash day and you have to PAY to dispose of CRTs. I disposed of several 19 inch and 21 inch CRTs that likely have much better picture quality and refresh rates than most of the cheap LCDs they currently sell. Nobody wants them.

        • I don't know if they are still taking them but I turned in a couple large CRT monitors at Best Buy a few years back. So far as I've seen they'll take most all electronics waste. In fact I've got an old PC tower in the trunk of my car waiting for the next time I'm in the part of town.

    • "Sounds like first world problems, mate."

      No, it means they can't probably type and have very good eyes.

    • It is a first world problem; but if you live in the first world that doesn't help you much.

      In the educational context(which appears to be where this research was being done), things aren't going to go so well for you if you've got a household with contention over the computer and a bunch of homework that assumes you have one.

  • Are you sure... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cirby ( 2599 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @02:07PM (#57324098)

    ...they're not just trendy?

    A lot of under-25 people I know only have a smartphone. No desktop, no laptop, not even a TV set.

    Just a phone - with access to the entire Internet.

    • Never more relevant... What's a computer? [youtube.com]

      • Are you implying that having access to just one device makes you so stupid that you don't know what a computer is?

        I know these people are underserved but calling them as stupid by comparing them to the Apple advert is just plain mean.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      I'd never be 100% sure anytime someone makes generalizations. But I don't think that's it.

      There *is* a trend to simply using devices as terminals to get at your cloud based data. It doesn't really matter for a lot of those people if they *own* the terminal or not.

      But note carefully here the language: they have *access* to only one device at home. That means that it's almost certainly shared with other household members. And if it's a smartphone, chances are there a some pretty serious caps on the amount

  • when I was poor in 1997 I was stuck with a Pentium 75 and 32 MB of RAM while my rich friends had a P133 and 128MB ! of RAM.

  • Is the solution to give those people even more digital devices?

    Or is the solution to figure out how to make that one device many of them do have, able to do everything important.

    If you think about it, there's no reason you cannot learn anything you want with just a phone. Even programming I feel like could be learned on a phone to a high level.

    • I'm not even sure there's a problem. If you were to look back 10 years ago, I would imagine that the gap was even worse. There used to be a a big concern over the digital divide [google.com] and that certain groups of people would be cut out of the digital economy because they lacked access to computers. Since then it seems to have been reframed (it's in the title of the URL that I can't get to load) to mean that not everyone has the same amount of resources.

      I suspect that this a problem that's already being solved.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      Even programming I feel like could be learned on a phone to a high level.

      I'd be interested to see how you solve the problems of 1. adapting an IDE to a 5 inch touch screen and 2. getting it approved by Apple, as the money you make from selling an iPhone used might not necessarily cover the purchase price of a comparable phone that runs free software.

      • I'd be interested to see how you solve the problems of 1. adapting an IDE to a 5 inch touch screen and 2. getting it approved by Apple

        I don't see any issues at all with re-building something like Xcode to work on a very small screen. Much of what I do in Xcode is still typing code, and Swift Playgrounds on the iPad shows you can absolutely re-work the keyboard to make that very practical. Even using IB could almost just as well be done on a small screen as I zoom in and out of UI layout a lot anyway, and

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          I'm interested to see how one might adapt an iPad programming application like Pythonista or Swift Playgrounds to iPhone. Does Apple allow applications that are impractical to use without an external keyboard?

          • I don't even think that it would be impractical to use without an external keyboard. Just look at screenshots from the iPhone version of Pythonista [apple.com] - that includes shots of editing code with the keyboard up, a UI editor, and showing graphical apps running. The fundamentals are all in place showing how you could use the same approach for any language, or system, and build working apps. Now the iPad simulator might be a might tiny on the iPhone but drawing apps have figured out lots of approaches to stuff

      • If you're too poor to afford more than one iPhone, but you bought an iPhone, you're an idiot. Could have gotten 3 decent android devices for the same price. Or one decent android device and a Chromebook. Then you wouldn't have to worry about programming on a 5 inch screen.

        • But you have to pay it all up front for a chromebook. You can get an iPhone for $45/month for 18 months.

          • Or you could go without for 3 months, save that $45 each month, and buy a secondhand android device for $135. Then for the next 15 months save your $45 each month, and have $675 to buy a laptop.

            Unfortunately budgeting and self-control seem to be rare skills indeed.

  • "Underserved?" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @02:10PM (#57324112)

    underserved (meaning low income, minority, or first generation in college)

    So ... being a minority, by definition, means you are underserved? Being the first person in your family to go to college means you are being underserved?

    This sort of "words no longer mean anything" crap has completely swamped the entire educational establishment.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @02:31PM (#57324190)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Also never note the fact that Asian and Indian Americans have higher household earnings than whites.

        Got to keep that narrative going.

    • So ... being a minority, by definition, means you are underserved? Being the first person in your family to go to college means you are being underserved?

      I get where you are coming from. However, the fact remains that there is a fairly strong correlation between parental educational attainment and offspring educational attainment. Both parents went to college, kids will almost definitely go to college. One parent went to college, still better than even chance that the kids will go to college. Neither parent went to college, then the chances of a kid going to college drop off a cliff.

      This is likely for two reasons: 1) parents who did not go to college are

      • Both parents went to college, kids will almost definitely go to college. One parent went to college, still better than even chance that the kids will go to college. Neither parent went to college, then the chances of a kid going to college drop off a cliff.

        This narrative keeps being repeated, but it seems to be obvious nonsense. At one point in history almost nobody went to college. Additionally, educational achievement is negatively correlated with number of offsprings (ie. the less schooling you have, the more children you will have on average). If your argument were correct, the number of people with university educations should have decreased over time or at best stayed stagnant. Instead, the percentage of the population with university degrees has mo

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jedidiah ( 1196 )

        > I get where you are coming from. However, the fact remains that there is a fairly strong correlation between parental educational

        Among my personal acquaintances are a college president, a real estate investor, a computing pioneer that sent his kids to ivy league schools, and a 3rd generation college graduate.

        The idea that "minority" means "ghetto" is racist nonsense.

    • US History (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @03:05PM (#57324326)
      It has to do with history. Low Income people, minorities, and people who are the first of their families in college have historically had a very hard time getting ahead in the US. It's a fact. Sorry that upsets you so much, snowflake.

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @04:35PM (#57324628)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by quenda ( 644621 )

          1. Graduate High School. (not college, just high school)
          2. Stay out of prison. (don't commit felonies)
          3. Don't have a child out of wedlock (use a rubber or learn to like blowjobs)

          Sorry, but correlation is not cause. All three of those are highly correlated to IQ (at least in the USA).
          All that correlates to health, family support levels, and numerous other factors.

          Those three are good advice, but will not make you smarter.
          If a person is destined to fail those criteria, and you
          - pay them to finish school
          - give them a good lawyer and support to stay out of prison
          - give them a contraceptive implant.
          there is no evidence you will change their long-term outcome.
          And that sort of thing has

    • So ... being a minority, by definition, means you are underserved?

      In America, statistically yes definitely.

      Being the first person in your family to go to college means you are being underserved?

      Definitely. Not having direct experience of your own parents to drawn on is a hindrance. In fact if you're the first generation in your family to go to college statistically you're poorer than your fellow students and less likely to be in a good college.

      • In America, statistically yes definitely.

        That's not how statistics work. Unless you're suggesting that 100% of minorities in America are undeserved. In which case you're an idiot and probably don't know any minorities.

        • Unless you're suggesting that 100% of minorities in America are undeserved.

          A wise man once said: "That's not how statistics work." I suggest you listen to him when crafting your response.

          Or are you suggesting that as a minority you're not statistically likely to be underserved? Do you live in Boston by any chance? I mean they are the most racist up there.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The paper makes it clear that they are using those factors because their other research and work has found that they are good indicators and correlate closely.

      This is common practice because otherwise it's hard to categorise large numbers of students without doing expensive, time consuming investigations. It's a proven and valid technique used in other sciences too, such as medicine and mechanical engineering.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by quenda ( 644621 )

      So ... being a minority, by definition, means you are underserved?

      No "minority" here does not mean all minorities. It is a PC euphemism for the races with low academic achievement in the US.
      More intelligent minorities such as Chinese, South Asian immigrants or Jews are explicitly excluded.

      This sort of "words no longer mean anything" crap has completely swamped the entire educational establishment.

      Better to make up a new nonsense word like "underserved", than to pervert an old one like "minority" which had a useful meaning once.

  • Growing up, the men who built the bomb had access to zero digital devices. They were SOOO disadvantaged! It is amazing they could even match their socks. As kids, they must have all thought, "I can't learn anything. I don't have the iPad XXX."

    • They certainly had access to the tools available at the time. It's not like they were stuck there with an abacus, a quill, and candlelight.

      The simple fact is that if you don't have a laptop or at least an iPad or something, you're at a serious disadvantage. Doing research on a phone is possible, yes, but it's a gigantic pain in the ass. Yes, you can write a paper on your smartphone, but it'll be frustrating and take longer. It's a shame that some people's attainment will be hobbled not by their motivat

      • Huh, I didn't have an iPad or any tablet until this year. I was not disadvantaged. I do not have my own laptop, I have one for work that I keep at work. Laptops used to be a luxury device as they could cost 2 to 4 times more than a comparable desktop. You can achieve any job you want to without access to this stuff as a child. Sure, it's nice to have these things, but they are not necessities. I think parents would do better by limiting their children's access to 'smart' devices.

        Yes, it's great if you

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ebonum ( 830686 )

        I grew up without a computer. In college, computers were mostly for word processing. Spell check ensured that, to this day, I have never learned to spell. After college, I learned to code. I read a lot of books such as Scott Meyers, Aho, Abelson and Sussman, etc. Programmed in NYC at major banks. After a very rough first year, I was good to go. You can learn things such as linear algebra, group theory, context-free grammars, etc. without ever looking at a computer.

        There is ZERO need to have a digital

        • If you wait until college to learn to spell, that's a lot to take in with your other coursework and all.

    • Yeah, von Neumann totally didn't have access to computers.

  • Title is wrong, should be 19% (Score:5, Informative)

    by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Sunday September 16, 2018 @02:40PM (#57324238)
    If you read TFA, the percentage of "underserved" kids with access to only one device is 19% (compared to 6% for "served" kids). Nowhere near as alarming as 85%.

    Of the students who have access to only one computing device, 85% are "underserved", 15% are not. That's where the 85% figure comes from. I'd cut and paste the relevant quotes, but the PDF has the stupid no-copy flag.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      What PDF reader are you using that enforces the no copy flag? I've got The official Adobe one on Android and can copy the text.

      "Looked at conversely, 85% of the students who had access to only one
      device were classified as underserved. These data, of course, might also suggest that students whose families are wealthier or whose parents are more highly educated tend to have access to a higher number of devices."

  • From what I can remember of my college years, I didn't have any digital devices, but I was overserved on many occasions.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dissy ( 172727 )

      From what I can remember of my college years, I didn't have any digital devices, but I was overserved on many occasions

      For us, overserved was when you had three cups of noodles to throw together in a pot for a single meal.
      Those were always great days to look forward to :D

      • For us, overserved was when you had three cups of noodles to throw together in a pot for a single meal.
        Those were always great days to look forward to :D

        I may be a bit older than you When I started college, the only instant noodle you could buy in the US was Cup-o-Noodle, and you wouldn't find them in most stores yet. I don't remember seeing them regularly until I was in grad school, when they became a staple of my diet.

  • Imagine that, the horror, poor students!

    NO. Guess what, they don't have because they don't need and don't want. Either a computer or protective gloves or a carpet with a unicorn. But not because you're so poor that you can't afford it, not in the USA. Having a place to stay, paying the bills, yea, that can be tricky. A computer you can get for free (sometimes directly from the trash) or for very, very cheap.

    • Many grade schools and high schools are now assigning homework via website, with papers uploaded rather than handwritten or typed out. A decent computer with enough screen size to see the whole page can make a real difference to composing longer text: I've helped several students in the last year turn their monitors to make the long dimension vertical, but that's impossible to do with just a laptop and no separate keyboard or monitor.

      • We are getting bogged down in details. Now it's the poor students that only have a wide-screen laptop and not enough vertical resolution (note that this can be even a brand new Macbook Air STARTING from $999, with a resolution that was pathetic for a good phone from 3 generations ago). What I'm trying to say is that while they might be lacking enough vertical resolution or a certain type of video output or by now probably many are missing the capability to read CD/DVDs and some don't have any place to plug

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Although there are some wonderful exceptions the price of the home determines the quality of the student. The kid from the 600K home is usually a better student than the kid from a 200K home. Economic freedom does not exist in the US and many innocents are deprived of what they need to turn into top scholars. In a way it is the same type of problem that we see in the courts. If you can afford large lawyer and trial expenses you will be found not guilty, get a short sentence or sent to a nice and easy p

    • Maybe the parents of a failing student could get some friends to make $1M offers for their house. Ooh! This is even better...

      They could get their neighbours to pair up and each offer the other $10M for their homes. THAT would get those grades up!

  • Had paper and a pen.
    A typewriter.
    People had at walk to a library at set times. Find books and read from them in their own time. Take their own written notes.
    People got accepted on the G.I. Bill and had to study within that system of support.
    They studied a lot and where thankful just to be able to get an opportunity learn.

    Todays generation have one device? A modern OS on a networked laptop.
    That can format a document. Has spelling and full internet support. Can allow the student to work with oth

  • The majority of people have only one sexual partner. The majority of people have only one home. The majority of people have only one car.

    None of these people are "underserved". If you have only one of something that often means that one item is a really GOOD item and fulfills all of that particular need.

    The idea that 'one is not enough' is simply an artifact of the keeping up with the jones/greed.

  • A smartphone will do a lot (Score:3)

    by scourfish ( 573542 ) <scourfish@@@yahoo...com> on Monday September 17, 2018 @07:25AM (#57327172)
    I use a cheap, secondhand smartphone for almost all of my daily web activity, and for personal enrichment. I've applied for jobs on it, tailored my resume on it, am learning a second language with it, and any technical manual I need is always available. A poor person using only a cheap, internet connected smartphone is a good choice in frugality, and still gives them infinite ways to enrich themselves.

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