playing hard to address the digital divide
third draft of an op-ed piece to the NY Times ... last revised Sat 7:33 am 11/24 ....
I was flip in my answer to her and told her that I wasn't dead yet and of course still had to pay all those bils for her brother's college tuition.
But I took the challenge this year and started working this year at The Children's Storefront in Harlem, an Independent tuition free preK-8 school that was started in 1966 by Ned O'Gorman and is now run by Kathy Egmont.
Never in my wildest imagination did I think that things would move along so quickly. After all, I had written in a speech to teachers back in 1982 that "It must be the goal, the mission, perhaps even the essential concern of the educational world over the next ten years to address these questions, to devise appropriate curricula, to define and formulate computer literacy, and to present computers in the broadest context of civilization and its intellectual growth, to inculcate positive attitudes in all students, tackling the issues of sexism, elitism, and classism that might well plague the computer curriculum." (source: www.summercore.com/buttons/mission.html)
And for 25 years since then, I have spent my time in the land of the privileged where families pay 20K to 30K per year to go to school and where under 20% of the families make less than 100,000 and a lower percentage are people of color. Did I really think that after 25 years in this world, I was going to "make a difference" in a few months in a very different world?
And then on a fateful day this month-- Tuesday, November 13th -- I met Michael Lewis. No, not the Michael Lewis from Moneyball fame that most baseball fans know. I am referring to the NYC Michael Lewis, a man who has been working for several years in Harlem (hwww.wirelessharlem.org) to address the digital divide by creating free wireless zone so that the boys and girls can more easily access the Internet, which is the great educational equalizer since the pencil.
You see, I have been collecting in Storefront's basement hundreds of old computers that schools no longer want but without access to the Internet, they are a bit like baseball bats without a field to play on.
How important is it for a student in grades 5-8 or beyond to have home access to the Internet and a computer? We have begun loaning out 2 wireless and 10 non-wireless laptops to our grade 5-8 students at The Children's Storefront. The joy and happiness on some of the children's faces is worth a million dollars. Students have to work in the computer lab for an hour in order to earn this privilege but they line up at 4pm each day for this opportunity. To be able to type a paper that is due the next day or if they are 1 of the 2 lucky ones to be able to research information via the Internet for that paper is for them an educational gift that makes me feel privileged to be working at this school. We even had one second grade student who went home and shocked his parents by logging in to his new online typing account. The parents saw him at the computer and thought he was hacking in to our school's network when all was doing was wanting to practice his typing online! As he grows up, the plethora of online educational resources will grow faster than he will.
Now everything has crystalized. We at The Children's Storefront are starting a collaboration with The Wireless Harlem Initiative that will hopefully in 2008 help to provide hundreds -- maybe even thousands -- of Harlem boys and girls with computer access and Internet access.
Computer hardware is no longer hard to get. Schools generally want their equipment out the door after 3-4 years and businesses are even more stringent. Donations I received from big name schools are easy. The new XO Laptop is going to have a big effect in the world in 2008. Students at Storefront simply need to spend an hour with me and they take a home a pretty good computer so that they can do their writing at home. But access to the Internet is not so easy. I tell my students (and faculty colleagues) that it is stealing to tap into someone's else wireless network even if they leave it open without a password unless you own a wireless connection yourself. (Source: www.summercore.com/wittenbergdoor/JPnotes.html) Over 80% of my students are from families below the poverty line and so of course very few of them own a wireless connection. Do I play Robin Hood and allow them to steal? Nope, I can't do that. I used to teach my students at a previous school to sing the "Got the no copying software, Gotta be Honest at Nobles blues" and there is no way I can play Robin Hood at The Children's Storefront where honesty is one of our six core values. I am not going down that road.
But the vision of Michael Lewis solves that problem. With moderate amounts of money, support and commitment, we can make his dream in Harlem come true. He has already created three hot spots in Harlem using a business model that incoporates area residents and local businesses.
Yes, it will take a village (of politicians, donors and supporters) to make this happen. But it is so incredibly important. I have never believed that "technology is THE answer" and prided myself in the 80s in being part of a computer consulting firm that was both "for and against the use of computers in education." Technology -- like marriage -- is for better and for worse. But helping the children in Harlem in K-12 schools have Internet access to help their skills and access to information is an absolute no-brainer. One charter school administrator prides himself in saying that "there is no quick fix, no one thing we do that makes us good, but rather there are 100 points of light, each one of which contributes to the progress of our children."
And so it is with technology which is 1 of those 100 points of light. If we can fulfill Michael Lewis's dream and vision and "light up Harlem" with Internet access, we will be making a huge difference in the lives of these children and ultimately be a model to the country and the world. To quote Mr. Lewis from a Focus Group Report he produced in Jan 2007, "Affordabel computer purchase option for Harlem residents are needed to help close the digital divide and increase economic growth. Relevant educational computer training for residents and business owners are essential." I don't want to be hyperbolic, but Michael Lewis's vision for addressing the digital divide is without question the "technological Statue of Liberty of the 21st century."
At my family Thanksgiving dinner last week, I gave thanks to having a daughter who challenged her 54 year old father. I am hopeful that a year from now, I will be able to give thanks to the dozens of people who helped collaborate with The Children's Storefront and the Wireless Harlem Initiative to provide the boys and girls of Harlem with a technological playing field that lets them play ball. Yes, that's right, Harlemball, not Moneyball.