Abstract
This article critically assesses the proposition
that computers have a democratizing effect in schools by increasing
job-relevant skills among diverse groups of students. Drawing
on arguments that schools are limited in their ability to counter
long-standing patterns of inequality, we examine how gender and
socioeconomic status interact to shape computer use patterns among
high school seniors both at home and at school. Our data come
from a large representative sample of grade 12 students in a western
Canadian province. We find that social inequalities are being
reproduced in the home through access to, and use of, home computers,
with job-relevant uses higher among both female and male students
from more advantaged backgrounds. Home environment conditions
the effect of school use of computers because students from higher
SES families-who have higher academic achievement and goals-are
more likely to use computers at home but less likely to do so
in school. This finding challenges claims that computers in schools
can level differences in cultural capital that students acquire
at home.
Copyright © AJER, the Faculty of Education, and the University
of Alberta, 2003.
Last revised: August 11, 2003.
Designed by G.H. Buck