Posted on 07/14/2021 4:39:05 PM PDT by LibWhacker
A new study from the University of Missouri found the unanticipated transitions to virtual schooling due to COVID-19 exposed the lack of digital resources among Black families in the United States, including access to Wi-Fi and technological savviness. As two-thirds of the country's Black children are born into single-parent households, the findings help explain the extensive stress virtual schooling caused for many Black families trying to keep their children learning and engaged online while at home during the pandemic.
"What we found was parents and caregivers often felt disempowered in the rapidly changing environment, as they did not necessarily feel equipped with the tools or technological savviness to effectively engage in their children's education the way they felt they needed to," said Adaobi Anakwe, an MU post-doctoral fellow and the study's lead author. "Schools were sending students home with devices for online learning without first ensuring families had reliable, consistent internet access to utilize those devices, and this was a big contributor to parental stress and burnout."
Anakwe and Wilson Majee, an associate professor in the MU School of Health Professions, interviewed parents and primary caregivers of Black families in Missouri with school-aged children to better understand their experiences suddenly shifting to virtual schooling due to COVID-19.
Anakwe explained the sudden shift to virtual schooling highlighted the digital divide that already existed for many Black families, as a lack of access to reliable internet can have long-term negative impacts on learning and health outcomes.
"The COVID-19 vaccine rollout showcased how important technological resources can be for making an appointment online," Anakwe said. "And the sudden shift from in-person health care visits to telehealth highlights the role technology can play in facilitating access to health care as well as education."
Anakwe added that even before the pandemic, Black families were already disproportionately faced with single-parent households, disparities in income and unequal access to transportation, housing, healthy foods and recreational facilities.
"We already have a cafeteria menu of social determinants of health that impact Black and minority populations," Anakwe said. "We need to be proactive to prevent the digital divide from becoming another issue that gets added on to an already very long list of challenges Black families deal with."
The COVID-19 pandemic also caused an increase in technology use among students, causing some Black parents to worry about the potential impact on their children's mental health.
"Before the pandemic, parents were tasked with minimizing screen time for their kids and ensuring they spent enough time outside engaged in physical activity," Anakwe said. "Then all of a sudden, parents were forced to encourage their children to use technology to stay engaged in their school work while at home. As COVID-19 lockdowns are starting to end, it will be interesting to see how the messaging around screen time evolves."
Majee said MU Extension and the University of Missouri System Broadband Initiative have helped increase access to broadband internet for rural Missourians, but more collaborative partnerships among community leaders, schools, local governments and families are needed to assist underprivileged Black families.
"Technology is becoming increasingly necessary for success in our lives, so this research can help us better understand the technological challenges facing Black families," Majee said. "Our overall goal is to improve the health of Black families by helping our community members who are most disadvantaged—it's a labor of love."
Sounds like another multi-trillion dollar congressional bill in the making.
Digital challenges? Do black families have genetic disorder that prevents them from using their fingers? Typing on a keyboard or iPhone? Or are they saying black people can’t count from 0 to 10?
So nobody gets nothing. We gotta be fair.
Black students cannot learn in urban school environments because of gangs and violence.
Black students cannot learn at home because gobbledygook reasons.
Maybe the location where the learning takes place isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s a bell curve thing.
We’ve been paying the Al Gore Junior phone tax to give internet to low income needy families since the 1990s. Where does the money go?
This is actually true. I suggest people be allowed to do things live in real life instead of online.
Of course it’s the location. And the ideology of the politicians that control the location.
The left thinks black people are too stupid to survive on their own. They should be called on it more often.
In the 21st century Democrats are keeping them ignorant by shutting schools down and holding classes using a format that isn’t available to many blacks.
Has anything really changed in the last 200 years?
Ofcourse...Dems think blacks are stoopid
Do asians and mexicans experience similar problems?
And the teachers unions decided that these lives did not matter.
The fact is that no matter whatever happens to black people, it is never their fault. If they don’t get vaccinated it’s because of collective memory of the Tuskegee Airmen (/s), if they don’t learn to read by 12th grade, it’s white supremacy, if they find themselves in prison for murder, it’s because of racism. If Target & Walgreen stores close in the neighborhoods...
But it is vital to remember, it is never their fault.
each family should get their own IT specialist to keep their network and PCs up and running
We also have Gen Z (edible Tide Pod) coming of age with the same affliction in suburban western culture aka the children raised by “single soccer mom” (TM) Biden voters who don’t like “mean tweets.”
These kids end up as school shooters with no dad at home, truant, failing classes yet the public school systems dare not fail them. They have been given adult privileges without accountability by their golden uterus syndrome moms
Internet access is a huge problem for poorer people. And to be honest, people who do not own laptops or use them much.
My wife teaches in a disadvantage school, and many of the kids didn’t have a way to do online learning at first.
Sounds like we need another couple trillion dollars.
For some reason, they don’t have any problems playing Grand Theft Auto.
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