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Computer Access Equity

Walter Maner

4. Evidence of Access Inequity

There is compelling evidence that systemic access inequities do exist. For illustration, I offer a partial list:

  • Computer training helps men advance their careers, but women need the same training just to catch up and survive (Brunet and Proulx, 1989).


  • Girls are less interested in computers and less confident in their computer skills even when they have as much experience with the technology as boys (Krendl, Broihier and Fleetwood, 1989).


  • Eleven different studies made between 1970 and 1985 show social status is a consistent predictor of adoption and use of personal computers (Dutton, Rogers and Jun, 1987).]


  • 37% of children in families with income above $50,000 have access to computers at home; only 3.4% of children in households earning less than $10,000 have the same benefit (Kominski, 1988).


  • A 1984 Census Bureau survey revealed 17% of all white children were using a computer at home but only 6% of blacks and 5% of Hispanics (Kominski, 1988).


  • Seven schools that substantially increased their computer resources found that newly-provided classroom computing experiences only created additional inequities for disadvantaged students (Chambers and Clarke, 1987).


  • A national survey of secondary school students in Canada revealed substantial inequities in access to technology (Collis, Kass and Kieren, 1989).


  • The Educational Testing Service found that parents who finished college were about twice as likely to own a computer as high school graduates, and three times as likely as those who never completed high school (Martinez and Mead, 1988).


  • According to the same study, 50% of the seventh-graders living in upscale urban areas have access to a home computer but only 20% of their rural counterparts.


  • The ratio of students to computers in special education classes is worse than in regular classes despite the fact that their computer access problems are largely solved (Fleenor, 1986).


  • There is both racial and sexual bias in computer magazine advertising and, surprisingly, the level of bias did not decrease during the 1980s (Marshall and Bannon, 1988).

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