For class, I read “Social Distancing and School Closures: Documenting Disparity in Internet Access among School Children” by Sen & Tucker. They found that the pandemic increased the divide between “haves” and “have nots” even more, as poor and non-white students are less likley to have access to the internet.

During the height of the pandemic, without internet access there was no way to learn. Even now that the situation has improved, many schools remain in a hybrid model. Without access to the internet and certain technologies, you would have lost out on over a year of education. Especially for younger students in their formative years, this could have detrimental effects. Losing a year could mean students are delayed in learning how to read and write, or getting a foundation in math. Gaining that knowledge during formative years is imperative.

No student should lack access to the internet, especially during the pandemic. I hope someday there is legislation that will provide this for everyone. We wonder why there are disparities between class and race, and this is an opportunity to narrow this divide.