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Word processing skills are not writing skills

Earlier this year, the steady drum beat of hysteria about
“information haves and have-nots” hit a fever pitch when two University
of Vanderbilt researchers released a study about the “the digital
divide” between Black and White access to computers and the Internet.

Donna Hoffman and Thomas Novak, the authors of the study, in
ominous tones argued “the consequences of this race gap in Internet use
are expected to be severe.” Moreover, they noted that “the United
States economy may also be at risk if a significant segment of our
society, denied equal access to the Internet, lacks the technological
skills to keep American firms competitive.”

Of particular interest to educators, the study highlighted the case
of high school and college students where “74 percent of White students
own a home computer, [while] 32.9 percent of African American students
own one.” Further, the study noted, the difference remains even after
adjusting for students’ reported household income. To emphasize the
seriousness of this detail, the authors commented in italics: “This is
the most disturbing case yet of when race matters …. Our results
suggest strongly that, in terms of students’ use of the Web,
particularly when students do not have a home computer, race matters.”

In the wake of the study’s finding, media outlets, government
officials, and community activists across the country called for
efforts to close the chasm.

The real issue, however, has nothing to do with computers. The
digital divide is a symptom of a far more critical racial cleavage in
society — that of access to high quality education.

Colleges and universities should resist the trendy focus on
electronic gadgetry as a means of mental emancipation and stick to
their strengths in the classic tradition of liberal arts education.

One finding in the study was that overall income “has little direct
effect on Web use” while increasing levels of education “positively
increase Web use.”

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