A new report issued by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) describes a new digital divide: among US students Internet use may be influenced strongly by parental income and education level.
The report is based on data from the October 2003 US Census Current Population Survey.
According to the NCES report, computer use among students in grades K-12 ranged from a low of 82% for those whose parents did not have a high school degree to a high of 95% for those whose parents had a graduate education. Use of the Internet is even more strongly affected by parental educational levels. While 73% of students whose parents had a graduate education used the Internet, just 37% of students with parents who did not have a high school degree did.
Income is another dividing factor. Though computer use was similarly high across all income levels, according to the NCES data, just 41% of students from low-income families used the Internet, compared with 74% of those in the highest income bracket.
Another classic digital divide, that based on race and ethnicity, was less significant than education or income, according to the NCES report.
Gender differences disappeared almost completely among students, with computer use equal and with female students slightly more likely to go online.
Schools play an important role in bridging and eventually eliminating the various digital divides. "Students are more likely to use the Internet at school than at home when they have any of several characteristics: Hispanic or Black
race/ethnicity, no parent who attended college, a single-mother head of household, a Spanish monolingual household, or family income below $35,000 per year," the NCES report states.