Getting my 13-year-old son to engage in online homeschooling feels like a battle I can’t win. He’s a good kid, but at this stage in his life, he’s more interested in his hobbies than tackling math assignments or analyzing The Call of the Wild, especially when he’s missing his friends.
To put things in perspective, both my partner and I are educators. I oversee academic support for a Division I athletic program, while she teaches at our son’s school, giving us a unique insight into the situation. Yet, when my partner asked our son if he had checked his school email lately, he replied, “I have an email?” Shockingly, there were nearly 100 messages waiting for him from teachers, detailing assignments and Zoom meetings, and he was already weeks behind. We couldn’t shake the feeling that we were failing at this homeschooling venture.
We consider ourselves fortunate since our only hurdle is a disinterested learner—not broader issues like access to technology.
When I started seeing reports that many teachers across the nation were struggling to engage their students in online learning, it didn’t surprise me. The challenges are glaring. A recent article from the New York Times highlighted that participation rates are particularly low in schools serving predominantly low-income families, where access to computers and reliable internet can be inconsistent.
This aligns with a survey conducted by Common Sense Media and SurveyMonkey, which revealed that 41% of teenagers, including 47% of public school students, reported not attending a single virtual class during the transition to online learning.
Reflecting on this, I couldn’t help but think about my own experiences at age 13. My father had passed away, and my mother was juggling a full-time job at the local power company and a part-time retail gig. Chances are, she would have been an essential worker, clocking long shifts from morning until late at night. We were already struggling to afford basic necessities like food, let alone the technology required for online education. Even if we had access to laptops or tablets provided by schools, reliable WiFi would have been a luxury we couldn’t afford. Moreover, with my mother absent, it would have been up to me and my siblings to navigate our learning independently—a challenge we were ill-prepared for.
This situation mirrors the experiences of many low-income families across the U.S. According to NPR, while 47% of public school students reported not attending any online classes, that number drops to just 18% among private school students. For instance, Serge Avery, a social studies teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School—one of New York City’s most prestigious schools—shared that a staggering 98% of his students are actively participating in online classes.
So, what does all this mean? Simply put, it highlights a troubling divide: upper-class families have the resources, technology, and time to support their children’s education during this pandemic, while middle- and lower-class families are grappling with the dual pressures of work and education. The result? Over half of public school students are not engaging in online learning. This disparity arises from various factors, including access to technology, parental oversight, and the sheer bandwidth of parents who might be essential workers themselves.
The fallout from this educational upheaval is likely to widen the existing gap between social classes. Some students may face grade retention, while others may advance without a solid understanding of the material, leading to confusion in more advanced classes. All of this is happening in the name of public health, a reality many can accept, but the long-term consequences of the online education divide created during this pandemic will take time to fully unravel.
In the end, public education has become yet another casualty in the fight against COVID-19, with lower and middle-class children bearing the brunt of this crisis.
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Summary
Distance learning during the pandemic has revealed stark disparities in educational engagement, particularly impacting lower-income families. While upper-class students benefit from resources and support, many public school students struggle due to lack of access to technology and parental oversight. The long-term effects of this divide remain uncertain but are likely to exacerbate existing educational inequities.
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