I’ve heard this one more than once and I’ve been puzzled, myself, how it can be. But here’s a good perspective on the issue by a teacher who works with pook kids. Yes, they have cell phones, but what don’t they have?
What we don’t realize is that with the technology we have today, and the cost of obtaining computers, printers, and an internet connection, our poor kids are being left further and further behind. One in five kids doesn’t have enough to eat, let alone wi-fi at their apartment.
As I’ve stated on the SLO before, oftentimes, cell phones are provided children (rich and poor) for protection. I know two young students in Ann Arbor–one now in college and his brother is a high school freshman–but they had cell phones five years ago. I looked askance at that situation, wondering why in the world parents would buy cell phones for kids as young 9 or 10. I was informed that the parents would have their kids report in when they got out of school and their location. If the student would be walking home and there was any suspicious activity, the child had only to speed dial a nearby relative for help.
For that circumstance, it puts a different slant on it.