A Waste of Our Hard-Earned Cash? (Politics and Protest in general)

Member Name: ladybahnsidhe

Product:	Politics and Protest in general
Date:	24/02/01 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A generation of computer literate, involved young people

Disadvantages: You get what you pay for

Penny wise and pound foolish - that's my indictment of the current atmosphere among grantmakers and politicians regarding funding small community access computer centers.

The current trend among those who fund grants is to put their money where they get the most bang for their buck - to fund programs that can post large numbers of children served, at a few dollars apiece. These programs are most often housed in schools and Boys and Girls Clubs, and are supervised by an adult with little knowledge or understanding of the technology. Usually they focus on highly structured activities or limit user access to only certain applications or web sites.

While such programs are a step in the right direction, they lack the sort of free form access that allows children and their parents to just ENJOY using a computer. There needs to be a focus on providing access to families and children OUTSIDE the schools, outside specific goal-oriented programs. Parents need to learn how to use computers, how to help their children make the most out of their access to computers, and how to monitor what their children are doing on computers. This is where small centers like ours offer the best value for the dollar.

I helped develop and run a small community access computer lab housed in a non-profit neighborhood center. We provide free computer and internet access to all in the neighborhood, and have offered classes in basic computer skills for adults and children, operate an after school homework help and enrichment center, and make our facilities available to other non-profits for training and internet access.

It is my contention, and has been the cornerstone of our philosophy, that any child growing up in today's world without regular and informed access to both a computer and the internet is at a severe disadvantage in tomorrow's job market. The few hours of computer access a week that most children receive in school is not enough to provid
e them with the familiarity and comfort level that leads to marketable skills. That comfort level comes to children who are growing up with a computer in the home, especially if a parent or older sibling is knowledgeable in computer use.

On a typical day at our center, I might serve:
-- a local contractor setting up a database to track costs and billing
-- a woman putting together a flyer for a neighborhood event
-- a mother and her toddler who drop by for half an hour to play
-- a teen checking the status of his student aid application online
-- a woman stopping in to email her family in Uganda
-- a student typing a paper for school or rewriting a resume
-- an elderly woman stopping in to check her email, where she maintains contact
with a pen-pal overseas and her sister in Florida
-- 10-12 children in grades K-8 doing homework, researching projects, or just
playing games.

This sort of free-form access is not something afforded by most programs, but is accepted as the norm for those who have computers available to them at home. It is what builds computer 'fluency', the comfort and ability to use a computer for daily tasks beyond the job-related, which translates into an ease that crosses over to school and work.

Does this regular access really make a difference? Judge for yourself. Each year, our city holds a research projects competition. Last year, every child associated with our center entered a completed project at his or her school, many for the first time. Two took top honors for their grade level and went on to compete in the citywide competitions.

Can we really afford to waste this kind of talent by being too miserly to nurture it?

Summary: