Online School and Poverty: Challenges of Virtual Learning and Low-Income Students

Adelyn Carson

Sinclair Community College

Sociology 1101

December 8, 2020
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With COVID-19 shutting down schools for the fall, online learning is becoming

mandatory for many students around the world. However, lower income students who do not

have both access to the internet and a computer to work from are finding themselves falling

behind. Even for those who have both, if their parents must work during the day to create a

living, the students have to handle online learning all on their own. This is especially a problem

for children who cannot read and would normally need constant supervision to be able to do

schoolwork from a computer. Online schooling makes it harder for low-income students to get a

good education compared to their peers, due to the internet and proper equipment not being

affordable. Additionally, because their parents are often at work, younger kids who cannot read

or operate a computer on their own are often left behind.

Online school is a challenge to even participate in for students without internet or a

computer. Not only is it stressful for students to keep up with classwork when they can’t even

access it, it puts stress on parents too. Esquivel (2020) highlights this when she narrates:

“Maria is a student in the Coachella Valley Unified School District, where 90% of the

children are from low-income families. She didn’t have a computer, so she and her

mother tried using a cellphone to access her online class, but the connection kept

dropping, and they gave up after a week. She did worksheets until June, when she at last

received a computer, but struggled to understand the work. Now, as school starts again

online, she has told her mother she’s frustrated and worried” (para. 3).

When children are not given the tools to succeed, or the chance to succeed through other means,

they may give up much like the student in Esquivel’s example. Not only that, but she fell so far

behind that she had trouble catching back up even when she was given the proper resources. This

is an example of how poverty can devastate someone’s educational career. Lack of access to
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these resources makes it much more difficult for these students to do well in school, especially

compared to their wealthy peers. Mitchell (2020) illustrates this issue when they state, “If online

education becomes the norm for the foreseeable future, a generation of low-income children will

be missing months of formal education widening the education gap between poorer and

wealthier students” (para. 2). As mentioned earlier, not having the money to afford the proper

resources to thrive in the virtual landscape will cause students to falter. Although some schools

have been providing laptops, many are leaving families to figure it out on their own. This

becomes especially apparent in McLaughlin’s (2016) article when she cites, “Three-fourths of

school districts, however ‘are not doing anything about ensuring outside of school access to

broadband,’ Krueger [CEO of Consortium for School Networking] says, citing CoSN's recent

infrastructure survey” (paras. 1–2). Schools are requiring teachers to go strictly online, and not

giving impoverished students a practical way to engage with the learning material. Of course,

free wi-fi access points such as libraries and parking lots do exist, as mentioned by McLaughlin

(2016). However, it is likely that poorer students do not have the time or the means to get there.

Not being able to afford internet and a computer in a world where nearly all classes have gone

online is detrimental to lower-income students’ careers.

Even if a student in poverty can afford both an internet connection and a computer for

school, there are still problems that may hinder their ability to learn at their full potential. One

such issue is that their parents are likely spending the day at work, trying to make a living. If a

child needs help with their work and the parent isn’t there to give it to them, they will struggle.

This is especially true for children who cannot read. They will have to operate a computer and

navigate their classes without the ability to read, previous experience, or the help of a guardian.

If a parent decides to stay home and help their child, they may have to forgo a stable income.
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Hartman (2020) illustrates this when he explains, “All those kids being schooled at home will

need watching, as well as help with their online learning. And parents — predominantly mothers

— will provide that supervision, making it very hard for them to keep working and earning a

living” (para. 2). These parents have to choose between working and leaving their kid alone, or

helping their kid succeed but having to rely on government benefits. As of right now, there is no

easy way to simultaneously make a living and help children thrive with virtual school. Online

learning widens the gap between the working class and the wealthy.

Online learning, while helpful for social distancing, creates difficulties for lower-income

students that wealthier students do not have. students cannot attend online meetings or finish

their homework without both a computer and an internet connection, which can be expensive. In

addition, parents will not be able to help their children with school if they have to focus on work

in order to survive. Online learning plays a part in keeping people in poverty when the student or

their parents do not have the funds to thrive in a virtual learning environment.
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References

Esquivel, P., Blume, H., Poston B., & Barajas, J. (2020). A generation left behind?

Online learning cheats poor students, study finds. Los Angeles Times.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-13/online-learning-fails-low-income-students-

covid-19-left-behind-project.

Mitchell, S. (2020). Ethical Concerns of School Closures for Low-Income School Aged

Children. Columbia University Libraries.

https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/bioethics/article/view/7057.

McLaughlin, C. (2016). The Homework Gap: The ‘Cruelest Part of the Digital Divide’.

National Education Association. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-

nea/homework-gap-cruelest-part-digital-divide.

Stavely, Z. (2020). Low-income parents turn to neighbors, family for help with distance

learning. EdSource. https://edsource.org/2020/low-income-parents-turn-to-neighborhood-

networks-for-help-with-distance-learning/639061.

Hartman, M. (2020). This fall, back-to-school may block back-to-work for many parents.

Marketplace. https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/18/back-to-school-may-block-back-to-work-

for-many-parents/.