Comments on: Technology and the new class divide

Consultant Paul Lamb warns that technology is exacerbating the class divide rather than helping address it.

[Jim Landers]

Digital Literacy

Someone should inform Paul Lamb that technology is neither
creating class barriers nor extending them; it is merely highlighting
what has been with us since the beginning of time. We have made
computers and the advance of technological literacy available at
many libraries around this great land and we're all helping pay for
them. Those who want to use them will. Also please remind Mr.
Lamb that screwdrivers have been around longer than anyone can
remember; but that doesn't mean lazy men will use them.

[Bob Brinkman]

couldn't have said it better

see above

I think not

No, you havent paid for them nor made them available, most libraries in smaller communities rely on private grants to gain Internet access and computers.

It's a nice convenient lie to blame a digital divide on 'lazy people' however its a lie all the same.

[chsnyder]

Blaming tech for class disparity?

It's interesting that the range between the highest and lowest earners in our society is approaching 1880s numbers, but blaming this disparity on technology is a bit naiive, don't you think?

In my experience low-income users have no problem embracing new technologies, provided they are actually relevent and useful. There is no digital divide, for instance, if you look at cell phone use.

A lack of disposable income isn't going to keep anyone away from life-changing tech. It's just going to make them more careful about what they decide is necessary and useful.

[casper2004]

Blame government for the ills of the world

Our government since the founding fathers died, created the world we live in today. If there weren't any poor people, the rich wouldn't find anybody to clean their toilets.

[shatterstar]

I agree

Although this isn't going to solve the global problem of second- and third-class citizenship, I think this article has some excellent ideas about what we can do in the US to help bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots. Technology is the present and will continue to be in the future -- the only way we can level the playing field is with open source software and government grants to provide equal opportunities for all.

[gerhard_schroeder]

Government grants = success?

If you think government grants are the only way minorities can succeed, you are one of the most racist people I've ever heard.

"Oh yeah, those blacks, they are incapable of earning for themselves. They need government grants to succeed".

Sounds like you are running a US Govt plantation...

[mrcuadra]

The Problem is Education...

...not technology. The author touches on this, but misses it completely as the source of the problem.

All the technology thrown at the masses won't help a bit if they don't know how to use it. More specifically, if they don't know what to use it for, even if they do know how. As another poster exampled, everyone knows/understands how a phone works, so cell phones weren't a problem.

If we spent a fraction of what we spend on technology (both industry and consumer wise) on education and changing the horrible systems we have, this world could be the ideal the author would like to see.

[stillgrossman]

Opportunity Education

Government is not the problem here, nor is technology itself. Despite one of the comments, the government of the US is specifically designed to support the existance of opportunities -- it has been mismanaged -- but that is its design. What's needed is education and encouragement that gives people hope in themselves and the role they should play in the world around them. The comment about lazy people not using a screwdriver either was dead on, and that's my point too. What we need is a way to get people to believe they CAN. Only then will teaching them what to do matter.

[gerhard_schroeder]

Culture of CANT

Yes, I agree totally with your assessment.

However, we live in a culture of CANT.

"You can't do it, your screwed because of your race. Here take these foodstamps and join our protest instead."

Victims are a hot commodity in this country. If you can obtain victims (racial, disabled, infected, addicted, insane, or even criminal) you have a powerful commodity.

Victims can be cashed in for votes, or class action lawsuits, protests, government grants, and charity dollars.

Victimhood is a huge business. And by teaching personal responsibility, you are taking on the Government-Media-Victim complex... Good luck with that.

[gerhard_schroeder]

Wealth redistribution

You can always make the case, that with a little bit more wealth re-distribution, that some person can be given an "opportunity" with someone elses money.

Believe me, this theory has been around for at least 100 years. So why are you trying to breathe new life into it?

If poor people actually *WANT* to succeed, and actually *WANT* to work hard, there is virtually nothing standing in their way.

Kids can get an after-school job to finance that new laptop and "level the playing field" while at the same time building up work ethic. This is how America worked in the olden days.

Now, you have liberals screaming oppression in the streets, and telling kids they are "doomed" to failure by birth, and you have columnists defining success as "winning" some lottery of life instead of working hard, and you have hip-hop artists who would make you believe the country has more job openings for singers and dancers than engineers and accountants.

You want to help poor people? Stop crying, stop wringing your hands, stop the blame game.

Make the poor people STRONG, mentally, and they will execute a plan to get out of poverty, if they so choose. Some, just don't want to. And if you want pay their way, you open YOUR wallet first.

[gerhard_schroeder]

Government grants to solve your problems?

If you think government grants are the only way minorities can succeed, you are one of the most racist people I've ever heard.

"Oh yeah, those blacks, they are incapable of earning for themselves. They need government grants to succeed".

Sounds like you are running a US Govt plantation...

[casper2004]

If you behave you may have a computer and connection

Government is the problem. You see, there is a new world order out there, and in order for it to succeed, they need a prison planet, and the only way to do that is to microchip people when they aren't looking. What's this got to do with the subject? Well, if you don't behave as the President sees fit, you won't have a computer or internet connection, much less, a pot to **** in.

[Phillep]

Digital Divide

Attitude and education are the true dividers. Anyone who wants to read can learn.

Those who learn to read can usually find a way to get on the net. No one can get on the net without learning to read.

Those who do not get on the net, will lack knowledge, and knowledge is power.

[casper2004]

The true divider sits in the White House playing dictator.

All of that will depend on how the President of the day feels about a parent and/or their child. You see, the White House packs the most powerful person on earth, who can do anything they want, especially the one who sits in there today.

[Earl Benser]

Nothing new...

Since the beginning of history, the cultural dichotomy has
existed. As someone once said, "... them what has, gets..." There
is always an 'elite' element of society who has the advantages,
and the rewards. The criteria change with time, but the
phenomenon remains.

And there are always people who 'want to level the playing field'.
It's like Bush's :No Child Left Behind" program, which directs that
all children shall become above average in their education.
Ignoring the fundamental mathematical error in that objective,
the program just flat fails to recognize that children, like other
people, have Gaussian distributions in their characteristics and
capabilities. Some kids are short. And some kids just aren't
going to do well in school. That's life,

So the proposed solutions don't exactly connect with reality:

? Bringing every community online by 2010. Creating statewide
or national universal broadband access and launching a
technology awareness, availability, and accessibility campaign to
connect all citizens to relevant and changing technology
products and services (not just the Internet and computers) over
the next five years.
>> Universal access is expensive. Who pays for it? and only a
flaming idiot would say the Government should pay for it. This
access will come right out of everyone's pocket via taxes.
>>Technology awareness etc. campaign - that's a laugh. It's
been tried for the past 50 years in one form or another, And the
VCR's still blink "12:00". And people still run out of gas.

? Establishing standards for digital literacy and offering curricula
for technology training from public preschool all the way
through public college, and in the workplace. Such standards
would be revised every two years or so to reflect new
technologies.
>> You can;t get the kids to learn the fundamentals or reading
and math now. Just what revolution in education do you propose
to replace the lack of responsibility in homes and schools that
have killed current education?

? Launching a dialogue between communities, business and
government to help forge appropriate short- and long-term
community technology policies. Appointing a community
technology czar to lead this dialogue and to author a five-year
technology plan with specific recommendations for state and
national governments.
>> DIalogue - the dumb leading the blind in things they know
nothing about. Right now, you can't get a Dialogue going to
resolve local zoning problems. And five year plans???
Technology reinvents itself more frequently than that. ANd who
would accept or trust a Czar who's as dumb as everyone else?

? Establishing digital empowerment zones. DEZs would offer tax
and other incentives for the establishment of tech businesses,
innovation centers and next-generation broadband access
services outside of traditional high-tech sectors and already
well-connected communities. Virtual DEZ portals and interactive
communities could also be host points for new media, open
source and citizen journalism opportunities with content that
targets underserved communities.
>> And right now, you can't get industrial park planners to get
their act together. This is grossly wishful thinking without little
recognition of reality

Though I no longer think information technology will change
everything, I remain hopeful that it can still make a difference.
>> It will make a tremendous difference, for those who can saty
with it. As usual, those who can't will be left behind. They always
have been left behind.

[casper2004]

I'd never leave my child's education at the hands of government.

No child left behind is a big fat rip off. It's job is to punish those children who don't get passing grades by cutting off funding. Gee our government sure likes to play around with our tax money. I wish we could decide where our own money goes, because as it stands right now, it's been supporting terrorism for years. How's it doing that, you ask? Well, can you spell Saudi Oil?

[casper2004]

It didn't start with this President

You know? I don't mind a cashier making less than lets say a teacher. I understand that some jobs are worth more than others. What I mind is the elite raising man to be puppets.