The Impact of Computers on Education and the Widening Income Gap

Abstract

America is rapidly moving into the computer age, and as a result, new opportunities will be available for those appropriately prepared. Blacks stand to move even further behind Whites from an economic standpoint as high technology becomes more pervasive because they tend to be clustered in schools where computers are less available to students, and they hold jobs where they are less likely to learn computer skills. Even in the past four years, there has been a widening of the income gap in America—that is, the rich have gotten richer, while the poor have become poorer. Black people are disproportionately affected by this situation because they are overrepresented at the lower income levels. Meanwhile, the level of black unemployment, especially among young people, remains frightfully high. Unless steps are taken so that Blacks gain computer skills and thus have access to some of the meaningful jobs that are developed in the high technology society, a social crisis of immense proportions will develop. A knowledgeable and employable black population will make positive contributions to the development of American society. A large cohort of computer illiterate Blacks, whose main chance of employment would be restricted to menial jobs, will produce divisions that will be problematic for all Americans.