Internet facilitates our life in so many ways. However, it doesn’t look like that’s the case for online learning, especially for lower-income families, as Pew Research surveys are showing us. Lack of technology access is creating a homework gap.
The situation created the so-called homework gap, where students of lower-income families are dealing with bringing their duties on time.
How is income creating a homework gap?
For example, lower-income families report twice than higher-income families having trouble when helping their children with their virtual tasks. A 36% of the first one admitted that helping their children became difficult or somewhat difficult, against an 18% of richer families. Meanwhile, middle-income families reported problems in 29% of the cases.
These problems are also observed depending on the living area. For families residing in rural areas, two out of five parents reported issues with online learning. In suburban areas, that figure represents only 23%.
Inaccessibility to connection devices was a constant issue for lower-income households. 37% of parents revealed that their children did their homework on a cellphone. Meanwhile, one out of four said that their children were unable of ending their homework due to the lack of a computer at home. For delivering their duties, relying on public Wi-Fi was a constant for 23% of the lower-income households.
The homework gap was always there
Pew Research surveys also pointed out that, even before the pandemic, disadvantaged groups had problems with their homework due to poor technological access. The gap was more evident for black teens of lower-income households.
However, the pandemic provoked that more adults recognized the crucial importance that schools deliver computers to students. The most notable change was between Republican adults, that passed from 28% in April to 43% in the last survey.
Educational policies need to remark the importance of helping lower-income families to have access to technology.
Read more: Nicolas Sadirac, leader of the French education revolution