Response to "The Computer Race Goes to Class: How Computers in Schools Helped Shape the Racial Topography of the Internet" by Jonathan Sterne
In the article “computer race goes into the class”, Jonathan Sterne points out that there is an inequality in the access to computers by people of different races. As Sterne maintains, minority people or people of color have much less access to computers than white people in America. This kind of inequality becomes more intense when it is brought into the classroom, as computers can be used as a tool for education. While children of color usually go to the schools which lacks of the federal fundings to purchase computers for class, white children go to schools that holds plenty of money and resources like computers. School location plays a vital role in the problem, since different school districts with their different property tax receive different amount of funding for schooling. Thus, the white people, in the time when the article was written (2000), were generally richer than minority people and they usually lived in those districts which the properties have higher prices. Therefore, the difference in economic status forms a racial inequality displayed by the access to computers.
I really appreciate one point made by the author. He states that “the topology of cyberspace mimics the topology of economics and race”. What behind the problem of access to Internet for minority people is the differential economic status. In my opinion, the difference in economic status of difference races is the fundamental cause to the inequality displayed in cyberspace.However, there is an assumption behind this point that people of color are generally poorer than white people. I think with regards to the time that this article was written, thus assumption can be true. However, in today’s society of United States, the inequality in economic status among different races has been relieved. More and more minority people become rich and have access to the Internet.
I really appreciate one point made by the author. He states that “the topology of cyberspace mimics the topology of economics and race”. What behind the problem of access to Internet for minority people is the differential economic status. In my opinion, the difference in economic status of difference races is the fundamental cause to the inequality displayed in cyberspace.However, there is an assumption behind this point that people of color are generally poorer than white people. I think with regards to the time that this article was written, thus assumption can be true. However, in today’s society of United States, the inequality in economic status among different races has been relieved. More and more minority people become rich and have access to the Internet.