In Brown v. Topeka Board of education in 1959, the Supreme Court ruled that education must be equal for all students, but sadly that is far from true today (Massey). As America moves from an industrial society into a post-industrial one, the skills needed to find work and to have the opportunities for a successful career require education, but education of a different sort than was provided back in 1959. Today is the age of technology and the communications age. Those who cannot communicate fluently will be left far behind. Sadly, this means the poor and minorities, mainly inner city and rural youth in today's education system.
While students in more affluent neighborhoods have access to computers and the internet in their schools, and usually at home too, this is not the case for the poor and disadvantaged students. They have poorly equipped schools, and are lucky if they have access to books, never mind computers. Yet computer skills are essential in the post-industrial world. As more and more manual labor jobs are taken over by robots or shipped overseas to third world countries, education becomes essential for anyone wishing to enter the job market, and communication skills are vital. As competition for jobs grows, higher degrees of education are required, and for those who have barely learned to read and write, there is no future awaiting them except the unemployment line.
Schools in poor neighborhoods, and rural schools, have always lagged behind urban, middle- and upper-class schools in terms of funding, quality of teachers, and educational opportunities, but these differences are so much more important now that there are less jobs available to those with limited education and skills. The ability to communicate is vital in the communications age, and these skills need to be developed in school. Students in all schools need to have computer and internet access, the use of which hones these skills, and offers ...