Giving Poor Kids Computers Does Nothing Whatsoever To Their Educational Outcomes

[Blackking]

I'm always glad to see a null finding reported, so I liked this paper (PDF) by Robert Fairlie and Jonathan Robinson about what happened when they gave computers to randomly selected California schoolkids whose families had no computer at home. The short answer is nothing.

The slightly longer answer is that the kids reported an almost 50 percent increase in time spent using a computer, with the time divided between doing homework, playing games, and social network. But there was no improvement in academic achievement or attendance or anything else. There wasn't even an improvement in computer skills. At the same time, there was no negative impact either. The access to extra computer games didn't reduce total time spent on homework or lead to any declines in anything. They broke it down by a few demographic subgroups and didn't find anything there either. It's just a huge nada. Nothing happening.

I think this is an important finding because it helps shed some light on the socioeconomic disparities in educational outcomes. We know that kids from higher-income households do much better in school than poor kids. But that of course raises the question of why that is exactly or what one might do about it. For example, would cash transfers to low-income parents make their kids do better in school? If access to home computers was associated with improved school performance, that would be strong evidence that simply fighting poverty with money could be highly effective education policy. The null finding tends to suggest otherwise, that the ways in which high-income families help their kids in school don't relate to durable goods purchases and may be things like social capital or direct parental involvement in the instructional process that—unlike computers—can't be purchased on the open market.

 

[Blackking]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...son_on_computers_and_education_no_change.html

 

[theworldismine13]

No shyt

 

[Slang]

A computer without preinstalled educational and/or creative software and wifi disabled is just another electronic device.

 

[Blackking]

But that of course raises the question of why that is exactly or what one might do about it. For example, would cash transfers to low-income parents make their kids do better in school? If access to home computers was associated with improved school performance, that would be strong evidence that simply fighting poverty with money could be highly effective education policy. The null finding tends to suggest otherwise, that the ways in which high-income families help their kids in school don't relate to durable goods purchases and may be things like social capital or direct parental involvement in the instructional process

 

[unit321]

Well, part of it has to do with parents helping out with homework and reading. You don't have to be rich to do that. There are dumb rich kids.

 

[NZA]

the solution would be a job transplant, not a free computer. change the parents' status in society, and the kids will follow. giving a computer to a kid with a mom and dad who work in a call center for $11 an hour isnt going to show the kid that studying will take him anywhere, nor will the parents be more inclined or even more capable of showing that kid how to study more.

looking back at recent history, a lot of country bamas and marginal ethnic european types migrated to the midwest and got high paying manufacturing jobs, for the most part, their children did far better academically than their parents. when the industries died, the next generation of kids went downhill if their parents had tried to rely on manufacturing instead of academics.the kids who took advantage of the gains those high paid blue collar parents made have pretty much abandoned the rust belt or live in cities and suburbs surrounding the newly ruined cities they grew up in. this phenomenon is more stark in the black ones than it is in the polish type people their because of the redlining

 

[theworldismine13]

the solution would be a job transplant, not a free computer. change the parents' status in society, and the kids will follow. giving a computer to a kid with a mom and dad who work in a call center for $11 an hour isnt going to show the kid that studying will take him anywhere, nor will the parents be more inclined or even more capable of showing that kid how to study more.

looking back at recent history, a lot of country bamas and marginal ethnic european types migrated to the midwest and got high paying manufacturing jobs, for the most part, their children did far better academically than their parents. when the industries died, the next generation of kids went downhill if their parents had tried to rely on manufacturing instead of academics.the kids who took advantage of the gains those high paid blue collar parents made have pretty much abandoned the rust belt or live in cities and suburbs surrounding the newly ruined cities they grew up in. this phenomenon is more stark in the black ones than it is in the polish type people their because of the redlining

this post makes no sense

the downside of the high paid blue collar worker is what spelled doom for the midwest, it created a culture where higher education was not necessary which made a population that was not able to transform and adapt to new economies and technologies and hence a decline in the midwest

its about about culture and attitudes toward education, if the children had done better its because the parents had abandoned their culture and shifted to a more academic culture, but overall that shift was not made by everybody and that is what led to the abandonment

 

[NZA]

this post makes no sense

the downside of the high paid blue collar worker is what spelled doom for the midwest, it created a culture where higher education was not necessary which made a population that was not able to transform and adapt to new economies and technologies and hence a decline in the southwest

its about about culture and attitudes toward education, if the children had done better its because the parents had abandoned their culture and shifted to a more academic culture, but overall that shift was not made by everybody and that is what led to the abandonment

the only reason those kids made that shift was because their parents made more money. their parents did not abandon who they were, so culture did not change when the kids' fates were changing. it created a net social climb for various groups, even if there was a collapse. what we are left with is a ruined city, and more people who are educated and middle class than would be if this had not happened, breh.

 

[theworldismine13]

the only reason those kids made that shift was because their parents made more money. their parents did not abandon who they were, so culture did not change when the kids' fates were changing. it created a net social climb for various groups, even if there was a collapse. what we are left with is a ruined city, and more people who are educated and middle class than would be if this had not happened, breh.

im not even sure what group we are taking about, but the collapse of the midwest has everything to do with the lack of education of the people that moved there generations ago and the high paid blue collar jobs made it feasible to not focus on education which eventually would spell doom

in the modern world, any community, city, or state needs a critical mass of educated people to sustain the economy, the midwest lost that critical mass

im not saying good jobs are a bad thing, but that isnt a determining factor, culture is the determining factor

 

[NZA]

im not even sure what group we are taking about, but the collapse of the midwest has everything to do with the lack of education of the people that moved there generations ago and the high paid blue collar jobs might it feasible to not focus on education which eventually would spell doom

in the modern world, any community, city, or state needs a critical mass of educated people to sustain the economy, the midwest lost that critical mass

im not saying good jobs are a bad thing, but that isnt a determining factor, culture is the determining factor

i am not arguing that high paying blue collar jobs were great for the midwest. admittedly, many of the kids who benefitted have now abandoned the region...

i am saying that southern black people, and "ethnic" whites such as the many polish americans in the area, saw a net increase in upword mobility, even when you factor in the rust period. this upword mobility that i speak of is not just in money, but in educational attainment from the children of those workers.

essentially what i am saying is that it was a catalyst and it happened so fast that culture change is not an answer for it. when the parents found an abrupt way to increase their socioecnomic status, it permanently lifted the lot in life of some of their kids, more than if it never happened. got it?

now that we know it is shown to have some positive impact, what can we learn from it?

 

[theworldismine13]

i am not arguing that high paying blue collar jobs were great for the midwest. admittedly, many of the kids who benefitted have now abandoned the region...

i am saying that southern black people, and "ethnic" whites such as the many polish americans in the area, saw a net increase in upword mobility, even when you factor in the rust period. this upword mobility that i speak of is not just in money, but in educational attainment from the children of those workers.

essentially what i am saying is that it was a catalyst and it happened so fast that culture change is not an answer for it. when the parents found an abrupt way to increase their socioecnomic status, it permanently lifted the lot in life of some of their kids, more than if it never happened. got it?

now that we know it is shown to have some positive impact, what can we learn from it?

the obvious thing to learn from it is that black people need to create jobs and create industries

and that's done through capitalism

 

[NZA]

the obvious thing to learn from it is that black people need to create jobs and create industries

and that's done through capitalism

on a racial level, i totally agree.

on a national level, i assume whites and latinos create tons of businesses, yet their life outcomes are plummeting right now, and since we are a part of the broader economy, those forces are working on us too, so i think we need to get to the root of this as well.

 

[theworldismine13]

on a racial level, i totally agree.

on a national level, i assume whites and latinos create tons of businesses, yet their life outcomes are plummeting right now, and since we are a part of the broader economy, those forces are working on us too, so i think we need to get to the root of this as well.

im not sure what standard you are using for plummeting, but for example the reason why white people are "plummeting" in the midwest is because of lack of education, and the ingrained non academic culture from generations of blue collar work, they simply lack the critical mass of educated people to compete with the rest of the country, the midwest is an example of what happens when you depend on blue collar work and get lazy

so the root cause is education and attitudes toward education

 

[NZA]

im not sure what standard you are using for plummeting, but for example the reason why white people are "plummeting" in the midwest is because of lack of education, and the ingrained non academic culture from generations of blue collar work, they simply lack the critical mass of educated people to compete with the rest of the country, the midwest is an example of what happens when you depend on blue collar work and get lazy

so the root cause is education and attitudes toward education

that's pretty terrifying because we are not really creating lots of jobs for educated people. most new jobs are service sector with little education needed. many educated people are now fighting for scraps and seeing their investment in education look like a bust. under these conditions, having everyone in america become a college grad would simply mean that jobs for college grads would become even less lucrative than they are today thanks to supply and demand