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Benefits of modern technology become available sooner or later to the majority of population. The electronic products of all kinds, as well as the technological advancement in medicine, are initially available only to the richest individuals in society, but with time, the latest innovations spread to the rest of the population fairly quickly (Kitahara 91). For instance, some items like automobiles or televisions are now available to practically everyone both poor and rich. This is what we call, ?
a long-term trend of capitalism. ? ? (91) In the US, the country which is considered as the world? s center of technology development, technology and social equity have a very tight relationship. On one hand, the development of technology improve social mobility. That? s why today we can see many Asian Americans, whose earlier generations were recognized as second or even third class citizens, now working in high technology companies and earning relatively stable and high salaries, compared to other minority groups.
However, on the other hand, ? the equality of outcomes? ? may also be negatively affected by the development of technology (92). Because of financial problems and cultural backgrounds, some African Americans or Latinos still have difficulty to access and enjoy high technology lives as their white counterparts. In the following passage, I will use several examples to examine both positive and negative effects the development of technology has brought to social equity in the US. Some ethnic groups of people are benefited by the development of certain technology.
First, high technology education helps Asian Americans enjoy the uprising of their social status. In earlier generations, Asian immigrants felt that they were second-class citizens with lower incomes and lower job prestige, compared with white people. After studying relative success of white people, Asian Americans were aware that their humble educational backgrounds caused their low social status. Therefore, for preventing the next generation from repeating the same fate, Asian American parents already start addressing to their children about the idea that? school success is gaining entrance into the best colleges? ? when their children are still little (Turbo 134).
Besides continually asking their children what they plan to do in the future, Asian American parents also? force? ? their children to choose fields in which they think their children will most likely find success. For instance, Most Asian Americans consider computer science an important field because it? lends itself to other fields well known to them such as programming and electrical engineering. ? ? (134) Therefore, they encourage their children to become computer specialists because such a job will guarantee their children a reliable and relatively high income. Thus, today many Asian Americans can be found being working at very high positions in some computer-related high technology companies.
They? re generally highly skilled engineers or computer programmers, compared with other ethnic groups of people who work in the computer-related fields, because they have already started sharpening their skills at their young ages. Moreover, in order to enable their children to be successful in the future, most Asian Americans have to make sacrifices. For example, a lot of Asian American parents would like to send their children to private universities, such as Ivy-League schools, whose tuition's usually cost more than 20, 000 dollars a year, despite the fact that they barely make more than 40, 000 a year themselves. For these parents, a diploma from a university like Harvard will guarantee their kids great career opportunities. Also, ?
most middle-class Asian American families have computers in their homes, and many have very sophisticated equipment. ? ? (134) Although advanced computers must cost them a fortune, Asian American parents still think that it is worth investigating, as they believe that auxiliary learning in high technology will enhance their children? s academic success. After making certain kinds of sacrifices, parents always expect performance in return from their children. Their aims are to allow their children to live in better lives, to achieve huge success in their careers, and most importantly to become first-class citizens and to share equity with white people, which was a long-time dream for those Asian American parents.
Second, some ethnic groups manipulate the technology of mass media to restore sense of community and cultural identity of their particular race, and also to help increase the influence of their race in the US. Ethnic media has been a long-established feature of American culture. Only in New York, by 1992 there were 20 or more Jewish newspapers, 6 Chinese newspapers, 3 Russian newspapers, 2 black newspapers and 4 national black magazines, and 2 Greek newspapers (Downing 256). Generally, ethnic media has a vast number of audiences as population of immigrants in the US grows.
For example, the circulation of the daily newspaper EL diario-La Prensa, one of the most influential Latino newspapers in the US is in the region of 54, 000 to 58, 000 (263). WXTV, a Latino TV channel in the region of New York and New Jersey, reportedly had an audience of 542, 000 by February 1987 (269). By broadcasting news to the local minority community, ethnic media helps ethnic groups to determine what happens to their members and to alter structures which have adversely affected them. ? Empowerment through media? ? enables the expansion of? needed information and the opportunity to debate issues of moment to the community. ? ? (258) Since these newspapers or TV stations usually broadcast in minorities?
own language rather than English, ethnic media also reinforce the culture of one particular ethnic group and prevent it from being under threat from cultural invasion or domination, especially linguistic subversion, from the powerful white majority culture. Besides the cultural reinforcement, ethnic media is also used for political purposes. Now more and more politicians from different ethnic groups have reckoned the importance of minorities forming a united front to fight for the benefits of the community. Then, thorough broadcast of ethnic media, these politicians are able to spread their propaganda to individuals, and they encourage everybody to vote for improving the social status of minorities in the US. In 1984, WADO, a Spanish-Language radio station in New York, claimed that they had helped to get about 140, 000 people registered to vote over the previous few years (268).
Third, information technology such as the Internet helps minorities like African Americans overcomes the racial barrier. William Jordan (an African American) launched his online service in 1995 with only one commercial customer. One year later he reported that businesses were? lining up to join his service. ? ? (Schiller 76) Jordan is at the front of what appears to be the next trend in cyberspace, the movement of minorities, particularly African-Americans, online. "The Internet is a gift from God to the black community, " according to Jordan (77). Although severely outnumbered by whites in cyberspace, (only 3 to 5 percent of online users are African American) blacks are rushing online, mostly lured by? a growing number of sites delivering Afrocentric content. ? ?
For example, like many other commercial Internet sites, Jordan? s website features lists of black businesses, a special children's section called Watt and even a wedding guide for couples who want a traditional African ceremony (77). Jordan is among a growing list of black Internet pioneers, who? tout the global computer network as a way for African Americans to forge a new sense of community and bootstrap themselves out of the cycle of poverty and social exclusion. ? ? (78) New York talk-show host and journalist Tony Brown is also one of them. In 1996 each week Brown devoted an afternoon radio show, "cyberspace club, " where he interviewed black computer experts and encouraged his listeners to?
get plugged in. ? ? (78) The show was very popular, and Brown credited a lot of his success to his continuing emphasis on computer and information technology topics. He said people were responding to his simple message: ? Get a computer or get left behind. ? ? (78) He believed that rather than being about blacks or whites, or sexism and racism, the new millennium would be about the haves and have-nots. According to him haves would have computers while the have-nots wouldn? t. ? There is no way the black community is going to catch up with white society under the current (economic and social) system, ? ?
Brown said, ? but with a computer, you can take any person from poverty to the middle class. That's what we " re going to do. ? ? (78) Jordan, Brown and other African American online advocates argues that the Internet de-emphasizes and even possibly erased the racial barrier. Many African Americans prefers shopping online for avoiding being discriminated (78). After all, in the Internet nobody will find out what your ethical identity is unless you reveal it yourself. ? The Internet also levels the playing field for African Americans, ? ?
Jordan said, ? it's a new technology that no one has figured out yet, so we are able to get in on the ground floor just like everyone else is. That's equality. ? ? (78) However, some factors like financial inability have limited some minority families the opportunity to access high technology. First, conditions of education and training on technology in the public schools of some districts mostly occupied by low-income minorities are not good enough. ?
Inequality of educational opportunity, based on income differentials between school districts characterizes the country. ? ? (Schiller 5) For example, in 1994, the poorest school districts in Michigan spent about $ 3, 200 a student, while the richest, $ 10, 000. In New York[? K], the richest district spent nearly $ 46, 000 per student, while entire N. Y.
city averaged $ 6, 644 per student (5). Moreover, today the nation? s schools? are more segregated than they have been in 25 years. ? ? (5) 66 percent of black public school students are in schools where enrollment of black or Latino students is more than 50 percent. The situation is even worse for Latino students, with 73 percent at schools that were predominantly nonwhite. There is no surprise that?
districts of minorities? ? are usually among the poorest districts of the nation. Lacking school funding, public schools are unable to provide their students modern equipment, such as high-quality computers and advanced experiment devices for physics and chemistry classes. Therefore, without auxiliary aides of high-tech equipment, minorities from poor school districts generally lack adequate skills to master technology and are not competitive to most white students from rich areas. The effects of inequality of educational opportunity are generally carried over and intensified from one educational level to the next. As a result in 1995 for example, blacks make up twelve percent of the US population, yet they received six percent of the associate degrees, five percent of the bachelor?
s degrees, 2 percent of the master? s degrees, and only 1 percent of the doctoral degrees. Furthermore, the number of black students who graduate as science or engineering majors was far less (McHenry 116). Second, financial limitation and traditional way of thinking become obstacles for families of low-income minorities to access high technology. Despite that people like William Jordan and Tony Brown are very optimistic about the future relationship between information technology and African Americans, some experts think it is unrealistic to expect? a box filled with microchips and wires to overcome entrenched social and economic barriers. ? ? (Schiller 78)?
It is important that we keep the technology in perspective and not expect it to fundamentally change our lives, ? ? said David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, ? this technology is not a cure for cancer. It is not a way of fighting poverty.
It is important to remember what this technology really is - a way for people to communicate with one another. ? ? (78) While nobody will doubt that the black community will benefit from being plugged into the internet, there are still many real hurdles to overcome. First, there's the question of access. As many African American families are classified as low-income families, in which the total yearly income of all family members is less than $ 20, 000. The $ 2, 000 price tag for a new computer system is usually too steep for most of them.
In addition, there are cultural reasons why blacks are very reluctant to embrace computer technology. The stereotype of a computer geek, a nerdy, white, unsocial kid who sits in front of a computer monitor for hours, doesn't appeal to many black youngsters. ? Computer geeks talk about surfing the Net. The truth is that most black people don't surf.
We cruise, " said Stafford Battle, co-author of The African American Resource Guide to the Internet in a recent Newsweek magazine article (78). Therefore, according to experts, before computer technology makes a real impact on the African-American community, the number of black people online will have to increase significantly. A survey of 54, 000 homes by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration indicated although only about one in four (28. 6 percent) white households had a computer, only slightly more than one in ten - 11. 1 percent - of black households had computers (79). That number, while growing, was still too small to have a gigantic social or economic effect on the larger community, Sobel said (79).
Most immigrants view the US as the land of opportunity before they come to America. However, soon they will find out they may live in a whole different world from the majority of people. While most white people are able to enjoy wonderful lives the development of high technology has brought them, some low-income minorities, like African Americans and Latinos are still lying at the bottom of society which is supposed to be equal for every citizen. For solving this problem, there is still a long road ahead of us.
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