Digital Divide still Separates Students

DIGITAL DIVIDE STILL SEPARATES STUDENTS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Ben Feller]
Many more white children use the Internet than do Hispanic and black students, a reminder that going online is hardly a way of life for everyone. Two of every three white students -- 67 percent -- use the Internet, but less than half of blacks and Hispanics do, according to federal data released Tuesday. For Hispanics the figure is 44 percent; for blacks, it's 47 percent. "This creates incredible barriers for minorities," said Mark Lloyd, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an analyst on how communications influence civil rights. Not using the Internet "narrows their ability to even think about the kind of work they can be doing," Lloyd said. "It doesn't prepare them for a world in which they're going to be expected to know how to do these things." The new data come from the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the Education Department. They are based on a national survey of households in 2003. Overall, 91 percent of students in nursery school through 12th grade use computers; 59 percent use the Internet. Within those numbers, the digital divide between groups is a national concern.
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* Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006065