Post #3: Issues in Tech

The Tech Achievement Gap in Low-Income Schools

June 14, 2015

I have taught high school math in the city of Chicago for the last 5 years at public, college-prepatory schools. My students are a large majority low-income from families where they often be the first in their generation to graduate from college. Our students struggle because they are behind academically and because they are not exposed to all the same opportunities and college knowledge as their more affluent peers. Technology is yet another example of this gap, yet also has the potential to be a huge bridge for many of these students.

At my current school the teachers work tirelessly to prepare our students to be college ready including developing their reading skills, problem solving skills, and character to survive the transition and the challenges throughout. However, it is frightening how little our kids are exposed to tech-related subjects in this process. We have a small but energetic robotics club and a digital arts class. There has been a recent push in our math and science classes to promote STEM careers, which has also spawned the STEM Honors program. In the past two years we have had a couple teachers step up to provide a coding enrichment club after school. (Two of which went on to enroll and graduate from DBC...hence my background.) Beyond these humble offerings there has not been much opportunity for our rising college students to explore coding and development. The same is true for many low-income and smaller schools.

So much is being done, or at least talked about, with regards to closing the achievement gap for low-income and underrepresented minorities in education; however, it seems like we are missing a huge opportunity when it comes to training in tech and coding. Many people argue that coding will be the next great "class" or "skill" divide. Why not start here? This could give students like mine a competitive advantage and a unique and relevant skill set. Even districts or schools that struggle for teachers or funding to provide this instruction could begin simple with programs like Codecademy or RubyMonk that require an internet connection.

My students recently completed a college and career reseach project in class. Because many of their parents and older family members have not had the opportunity to attend college, we do more in-school exploration. I have several students that are interested in coding, but my school has never offered a computer science class or any basic technology class. This is a major issue in 2015. And also a major opportunity for students like mine. Some of my students are still learning how to attach a document to their email let alone running the command line. I fear that students like mine will have dreams of computer programming but not survive the college courses because they will be intimidated by their classmates who have come from more wealthy districts and communities. I know we are losing out on having some amazing young people from diverse backgrounds entering the tech community because of these issues.

When I first decided to research and apply to DBC, my husband asked me what my end game was. At the beginning I'm not sure I truly had one. I have always loved learning, especially if it was challenging, logic based, and involved problem solving. That was enough (minus the cost obviously). I now see a possible opportunity to fuse two of my passions together. I would love to work for an organization that helps train youth from diverse socio-economic backgrounds to learn to code and develop, or one that promotes this training. I would also love to help jumpstart these types of programs in more of our existing educational structures. There is a laundry list of battles my school along with others in the movement of educational equality are trying to fight on a daily basis, but tech education, like learning to code, should be on the priority list and not the wish list.