Class on the Computer

DCU. (2015, March). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/dacribunivrsity

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many if not all college students have been displaced from their universities and have been forced to move back home if they are able. The #DaCribUniveristy on Twitter has become a meme for college students. Students are saying things like "officially committed to #DaCribUniverisy" and "The RA's in this dorm suck #DaCribUniveristy". Tweets like these offer the opportunity turn a very stressful  experience into a joke. Many however, don't have the chance to make this a joke as this has become a very serious situation. 

The shift to distance learning has widened the educational inequality gap between the upper class and lower and middle classes excessively. Students in these environments often may not have a personal computer, computer in their household, or even wifi. This creates obstacles to accessing textbooks, keeping up with assignments and attending online class sessions. A Vox article goes into further details about the challenges these students have to face . Many of them may have big families, causing difficulties trying to do schoolwork in a confined space. In addition, these students have to deal with the trauma of parents not having the privilege of working from home. After all of that, students who depend on their university dorm as their only form of housing are then forced to find a way to pay for a place to stay, making school less of a priority. Professors have reported drastically less numbers of student participation with their courses. 

Chan, D. (2020, April 1). New Podcast Aims to Assist Faculty With Shift to Distance Learning. Retrieved from https://news.fordham.edu/university-news/new-podcast-aims-to-assist-faculty-with-shift-to-distance-learning/

Although making this situation into a joke may help ease some stress, low income students are at a huge disadvantage. The lack of resources makes keeping up with school extremely difficult. Some universities have given students the option of a pass/fail or even just passing all students to help combat this situation. Despite this, these barriers to learning will likely have a harsh effect on these lower and middle class students. 

Course Reference:  Silva, J.M. (2014). "Working class growing pains." In Andersen, M. L., & Collins, P. H. (2019). Race, class, and gender: intersections and inequalities (pp 249-256). Boston, MA: Cengage.