Thinking about ebooks
A listserv discussion sent me off on a tangent yesterday with not much of a place to put these thoughts. We were talking about ebooks, and someone brought up the digital divide - what about those who are not so well off and don't have much access to computers? And others mentioned the dropping prices of digital textbooks and laptops and all. And I began thinking about being poor.
Take the simple act of paying your electric bill. You write a check, you stick it in the envelope, you mail it - right? No. You're out of checks and you forgot to order more because you had to work late to try to make some extra money because your kid has a recital and needs a new pair of black pants and some new shoes. So you don't have checks. So you have to go to the check-cashing place - where you're going to pay more than just the electric bill; the check-cashing place charges a fee as well. Even if you do have a check, you're out of stamps, and the vending machines in your post office are all broken because you live in a crappy neighborhood with a crappy post office so you have to wait on line, but you can't because you have to work.
Because you can't afford a good neighborhood, your kids go to a crappy school. The teachers there are not the best and the brightest. They are the ones who are there because they have to be. Classes are about making sure kids don't get into fights - your kid isn't learning much, and you don't have time to teach him because you have to work just to pay the basic bills, and you certainly can't afford to hire a tutor. So you just struggle along the best you can. And you want to get him a computer, but even a cheap computer costs $200, and that's three weeks of groceries if you stretch it. Plus if you had a computer in your apartment, someone would find out and break in and steal it.
You know your kid isn't going to college because you can't afford it and with the schools he's going to now, he won't make the test scores so he won't even be eligible. So you just hope he doesn't fall in with a bad crew - because you're so far behind the 8-ball just trying to keep up with life, just trying to keep a roof over your heads and food on the table and you can't even afford health insurance....
I'm not talking about a few families here and there. Sure, 97% of kids in 2-4 year institutions own a computer. But what about the kids who never make it to those institutions? What about the kids who get a GED and go to work in their uncle's store? What about the kids who are selling crack on the corner? What about Snoop?
Driving down the price of ebook readers or digital textbooks is not the important thing. Because a simple lack of cash is not the answer. It would take more than a grant of a free laptop per kid for digital resources to truly be effective. It's certainly a start, and it's better than nothing, but...it takes more than that.
Take the simple act of paying your electric bill. You write a check, you stick it in the envelope, you mail it - right? No. You're out of checks and you forgot to order more because you had to work late to try to make some extra money because your kid has a recital and needs a new pair of black pants and some new shoes. So you don't have checks. So you have to go to the check-cashing place - where you're going to pay more than just the electric bill; the check-cashing place charges a fee as well. Even if you do have a check, you're out of stamps, and the vending machines in your post office are all broken because you live in a crappy neighborhood with a crappy post office so you have to wait on line, but you can't because you have to work.
Because you can't afford a good neighborhood, your kids go to a crappy school. The teachers there are not the best and the brightest. They are the ones who are there because they have to be. Classes are about making sure kids don't get into fights - your kid isn't learning much, and you don't have time to teach him because you have to work just to pay the basic bills, and you certainly can't afford to hire a tutor. So you just struggle along the best you can. And you want to get him a computer, but even a cheap computer costs $200, and that's three weeks of groceries if you stretch it. Plus if you had a computer in your apartment, someone would find out and break in and steal it.
You know your kid isn't going to college because you can't afford it and with the schools he's going to now, he won't make the test scores so he won't even be eligible. So you just hope he doesn't fall in with a bad crew - because you're so far behind the 8-ball just trying to keep up with life, just trying to keep a roof over your heads and food on the table and you can't even afford health insurance....
I'm not talking about a few families here and there. Sure, 97% of kids in 2-4 year institutions own a computer. But what about the kids who never make it to those institutions? What about the kids who get a GED and go to work in their uncle's store? What about the kids who are selling crack on the corner? What about Snoop?
Driving down the price of ebook readers or digital textbooks is not the important thing. Because a simple lack of cash is not the answer. It would take more than a grant of a free laptop per kid for digital resources to truly be effective. It's certainly a start, and it's better than nothing, but...it takes more than that.
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