Equity - What is it and how do we get it?

Dateline: 05/07/97 - by Walter H. Horowitz, Vice President, NoteSys, Inc.

Eq-uit-ty: noun - The state, quality, or ideal of being just, impartial, and fair.

At the recent Learning with Laptops Summit in Atlanta, one of the major topics was equity. One of the objectives our our educational system is to give everyone an opportunity to learn what they need to succeed. Today that includes learning how to use a computer. Don't take my word for it, even the President says that every student needs this education.

Some of the educators I have spoken to cannot imagine how they can provide computers for every student. They know they cannot afford them. And we have to buy them for everyone; or do we? Ken Rowe, Principal of Frankston High School, a public school in Victoria, Australia told a story about two Soviet farmers at the Laptop Summit. One of the farmers had a pig and the other didn't. The farmer who didn't have a pig couldn't afford a pig and knew that he would never be able to save enough money to buy a pig. The farmer without pig told the other farmer that since they were living under the Soviet system and that equity was required, he should shoot his pig.

As an education consultant from New York said, "Equity is not lowest common denominator." The system is fair if everybody has an equal chance for access to technology. While I believe that eventually we will have a system where every student has his or her own computer, to get there we need to put aside the thought that "If I can't have it, nobody can." We need to start by making technology available to some of our students and we need to do it in a way that makes the opportunity equitable so that all students, no matter what their economic background, have an equal chance.

We are far from providing equity in access to technology today. An example in the disparity between rich and poor schools can be found in the New York Times article "Two Faces of School Computer Revolution" by Gary Andrew Poole published January 29, 1996.

I doubt that very many schools will be able to supply a computer to every student this year or next year. Eventually, the value of computers will be seen by more parents and the cost of the computers needed will drop. We shouldn't wait until that magic moment when everyone can afford a computer to start a program. Until the value of this change becomes obvious to everyone, many will not want to spend the money even if they can afford the cost. Instead, we can let those who can afford to buy their own computers and see the value do so and use public and private funds to underwrite the program for those who really can't afford the full cost and are willing to pay what they can. Right now we need equity in opportunity for access to technology.

Next week - I'll cover some of the discussion on where to find the money to do this.

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