Friday, March 27, 2020

CORONAVIRUS HIGHLIGHTS INTERNET ACCESS INEQUALITY


"I'm concerned about her falling behind in school," Betsy Rubio said of her daughter, Anahi. Their Brownsville, Texas, apartment lacks internet service. Credit...Scott Stephen Ball for The New York Times

By Noam Scheiber, Nelson D. Schwartz and Tiffany Hsu 
"Like many districts around the country, the Brownsville Independent School District in Texas sought to transfer much of its curriculum online when it closed its doors this week. Schools encouraged students to use digital platforms like Google Classroom, Apple Teacher and Seesaw to keep up with their studies.

But unlike wealthier areas, Brownsville has notoriously spotty internet access. Nearly half of households there lacked broadband in 2018, putting it at the top of a list of worst-connected cities compiled by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, an advocacy group. 

“We’re limited when it comes to online services in our community,” said the district’s superintendent, René Gutiérrez. “It’s not where it needs to be.”

The situation has sent many families scrambling. Anahi Rubio, 11, and her mother just moved into an apartment that lacks an internet connection. Anahi has struggled with balky access while using a laptop at her aunt’s house, where she couldn’t get the videoconferencing app Zoom to work.

“They’re always telling you to use YouTube to learn multiplication, or to look something up on Google,” said her mother, Betsy Rubio. “Online, everybody gets to be on the same page. But if not everyone has good internet, like my daughter, you don’t. I’m concerned about her falling behind.”


Palm Boulevard in Brownsville, Texas, was nearly empty Thursday.

Palm Boulevard in Brownsville, Texas, was nearly empty Thursday. Credit...Scott Stephen Ball for The New York Times
To read the rest of the article, click on link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/business/economy/coronavirus-inequality.html?referringSource=articleShare

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Build more bike trails.

Anonymous said...

Betcha they have I phones

Anonymous said...

You Mexicans ever heard of something called BOOKS...the world has been using them with great success for a very long time...morons!

Anonymous said...

In Brownsville, they trade food stamps for damned everything, so why not the Internet. Has to be some crooked electrician in town who'll set them up, if not hundreds!

Anonymous said...

18 in hidalgo and 13 in cameron cases of the virus as of last night

Anonymous said...

Trevino says everyone needs to do their part and the mayor? Trevino is doing his job he's stepping up and we thank him for it, but the MAYOR where is he? Selling pizzas?

Anonymous said...

If you have a cell phone you can have access to the internet.
Very easy to set up.

Anonymous said...

It's Trump's fault. I hate him.

Anonymous said...

What would you like done? Have in-school classes for students without access to the web? Is it worth the risk of making them and/or their family members sick? How about the teachers and other school staff that would have to be there and would be exposed? I can't think of an alternative. Some racist above suggested books. Textbooks are good but they do not provide the classroom instruction that a virtual class, taught by your regular teacher would. And it is hard to ask a book to clarify something you do not understand. You can be a dick and complain or perhaps you can make a real and workable suggestion. I don't know how to solve this problem but I do know that if a student falls behind, that student can be helped to catch up later. If a student gets sick how far behind they are may not matter.

Anonymous said...

NYT is going out of business like the local daily, now they charge you for reading their shit...

Anonymous said...

She needs to clean that place! Lack of higiene at this time is not acceptable!

Anonymous said...

Inequality...bullshit! People who choose to reject education, reject learning English, rejected trying to better themselves are only victims of their decisions. If folks want to hunker down and wallow in being among the poor, then they are not unequal, they are stupid.

Anonymous said...

BISD has 3 top paid administrators and many assistant supt that should be abel to figure all this out, I'd like to see what those top 3 are doing on a daily base to lead the educational process. De los tres no se hacen uno. Bring Esperanza back and see what programs she'd have in progress immediately.

What is the school board doing to help out? Right now they are all shitting bricks with the upcoming trial where they may be implanted into the mess with
SPA. En donde esta la Minnie Winnie - sheltered-down? Don't think so! That would be the only way her husband would be able to hold her at home. Nomas anda de nalga parade en todos los mitotes..

Anonymous said...

Pero Palm Blvd siempre esta empty nmmz

Anonymous said...

gringas with fake name and she don't look like 11 years fake

Anonymous said...

March 28 @11:43...the RESIDENT MORON speaks again; maybe you could learn to write at the sixth-grade level before you post any more of your stupidity. Once again, what grade did you drop-out?

Anonymous said...

@March 29, 2020 at 10:46 AM


Te Duele el culo gringo idiota. The intrinsic value of your grammatical knowlege amazes the swamp, your facetious remarks adorn your phisical and your emotions, you are nothig short of a facetious member of the kingdom animalia, your 15 seconds of glory are over, now go back to your place where you reside THE ZOO.

Anonymous said...

Estupido this is a blog blogs are informal so that idiots like you can understand simple shit for simple shitty people at: March 29, 2020 at 10:46 AM

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