![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
You are in: Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]()
|
![]() |
Thursday, 16 December, 1999, 20:36 GMT
Computers create 'children's underclass'
![]() Ambleside CE Primary: Traditional but hi-tech
By BBC Education Correspondent Sue Littlemore
The internet offers amazing educational opportunities. But there is concern that it is creating a new "technology underclass" for those children who have little or no access to it.
The children are fortunate to have ready access to information and communications technology at school, which has its own Flash-enhanced website with more than a thousand pages of pupils' work and even a live webcam. The children use CD-ROMs in their projects, design number games on the interactive website, and use computers to control little robots.
"Those who don't have the choice - who don't have computers at home - their self-esteem may be knocked relative to those who do have computers at home, and that does concern me," he said. Increasingly, "having a computer" is equated with having an internet connection - few are sold these days without a modem. Up to a fifth of households in the UK with children are online. In Ambleside, eight-year-old Jade Cunniff uses the personal computer in her father's study to connect to the school website, where she writes a book review. She is aware that she is relatively fortunate.
"That makes the people who haven't got the internet upset." Her friend, Charlotte Brass, does not have a computer at home - her parents say they would struggle to afford one. As a result, she feels left behind compared with children who do have one. "When it comes to computers, they always turn out to know the most about what you have to do," she said. Higher marks Teachers have said that pupils who do their homework on computer often get higher marks - not least because the presentation is better.
At Sheffield University, Professor Gill Valentine says that children who are excluded from the technology now will be marginalised as adults. "They will be completely disenfranchised," she said. "They won't be able to find work, they won't be able to participate in everyday life, they won't be able to vote, they won't be able to access all sorts of information." Efforts to get computers into public places such as libraries are welcome, but teachers admit the ideal is for every child to have a computer at home. |
![]() |
See also:
![]() Internet links:
![]() The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites ![]() Links to other Education stories are at the foot of the page.
![]() |
![]() |
Links to more Education stories
|
![]() |
![]() |
^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |