During a Pandemic, the Digital Divide, Racism and Social Class Collide: The Implications of COVID-19 for Black Students in High Schools

A new strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has emerged and has since caused the indefinite physical closure of schools in Ontario. Classroom instructions have moved to online platforms. The change to online schooling, though necessary, can be a significant barrier to accessing educational content for st...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child & youth services 2020-07, Vol.41 (3), p.253-255
Main Authors: Hassan, Sabrin, Daniel, Beverly-Jean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black students
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Internet access
Pandemics
Racism
Secondary school students
Secondary schools
Social classes
Systemic racism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A new strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has emerged and has since caused the indefinite physical closure of schools in Ontario. Classroom instructions have moved to online platforms. The change to online schooling, though necessary, can be a significant barrier to accessing educational content for students who do not have full access to the Internet and technologies such as computers, laptops and iPads. Although there is no current data that speaks to technology access for Black students in Canada, one might extrapolate from longstanding trends in data pursuant to structural inequities impacting disproportionally Black and other racialized minorities that there may in fact be a digital and technological divide specifically impacting Black students negatively (Chakraborty & Bosman, 2005; Fairlie, 2004). Black students and their families are, as a result of systemic racism, overrepresented amongst precarious workers (Liu, 2019). They are often in unstable employment situations that include limited benefits. Frequently, they are faced with financial challenges that are exacerbated during this pandemic. They are also more likely to fall victim to the virus itself since the groups that are presenting with higher rates of COVID-19 infections, are more likely to live in precarious housing, fall within a lowered-income status, and be identified as immigrants and visible minorities (Wallace, 2020). In combination, these factors significantly increases the likelihood that some Black students’ access to the required technologies is significantly compromised.
ISSN:0145-935X
1545-2298
DOI:10.1080/0145935X.2020.1834956