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Digital Divisions
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Digital
Divisions
How Schools
Create Inequality in
the Tech Era
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gir llA Matthew h. Rafalow
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20 The UniversiTy of ChiCago Press
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The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2020 by Matthew H. Rafalow
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in
the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For
more information, contact the University of Chicago Press,
1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2020
Printed in the United States of America
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 72655- 7 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 72669- 4 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 72672- 4 (e- book)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226726724.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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vre Names: Rafalow, Matthew H., author.
se Title: Digital divisions : how schools create inequality in the tech era /
r sth Matthew H. Rafalow.
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.sserP IdentifierIsn: cLlCudCeNs b2i0b2li0o0gr0a5p3h7i3c a|l IrSeBfeNre 9n7c8es0 a2n2d6 7in26d5ex5.7 (cloth) |
o ISBN 9780226726694 (paperback) | ISBN 9780226726724 (ebook)
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acih Subjects: LCSH: Educational technology—United States—Case studies. |
C fo Digital divide—United States—Case studies. | Educational equalization—
ytisre Classification: LCUC nLiBte1d0 2S8ta.4te3s.—R3C3a7s e2 0st2u0d i|e Ds. DC 371.33—dc23
vinU LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005373
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th ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
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Contents
Introduction | 1
ChaPTer 1
Similar Technologies, Different Schools | 22
ChaPTer 2
Disciplining Play | 44
ChaPTer 3
Where Disciplinary Orientations
Come From | 72
ChaPTer 4
Schools as Socializing Agents for
Digital Participation | 109
.de Conclusion | 133
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.sse Notes | 179
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intRoDuCtion
One of my first visits to Heathcliff Academy was to observe Ms. Law-
son’s sixth- grade history class. Heathcliff, a private school located in
Southern California, had a hefty ticket for entry. With no available
scholarships, this limited enrollment to the wealthy and White fami-
lies living in its vicinity. The flow of income allowed the school to
buy and provide iPads to all its students. Not only could students use
them in class, but they could take them home, too. In this particular
class, students were using iPads to work on a project where they ex-
plained and critiqued an international news story.
“All right, my little historians!” exclaimed Ms. Lawson. “Let’s take
those iPads out. It’s time to continue work on our news presenta-
tion.” Students all reached into their bags and turned their tablets
on. As I peeked at a nearby student’s screen, I watched as she opened
Keynote, a slideshow presentation app native to Apple devices.
Ms. Lawson walked around the classroom to help a few students find
and open Keynote to get ready for the activity. “You all know what to
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se The classroom was, for the most part, relatively quiet as students
r sth swiped and tapped around their iPad screens. But just a few minutes
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.sse iPad and cut through the silence. I quickly realized that the sound was
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20 ana grinned and nodded. Ms. Lawson turned to the rest of the class.
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2 | Introduction
or pull out some earphones.” Shortly thereafter, I noticed some stu-
dents swiping to a web browser to look up images of recording art-
ists, a couple even copying and pasting their photos into their Key-
note presentations, too.
A few short weeks later, I made my first visit to Sheldon Junior
High to observe Ms. Bartow’s sixth- grade music class. She had told
me beforehand that they were using software to learn how to com-
pose music for a class project. Although only a forty-m inute drive
from Heathcliff, the school served a very different student popula-
tion. Once an area for predominately White families, the outlying
neighborhood had rapidly shifted in the past ten years to accommo-
date an influx of Asian American immigrant families, mostly middle
class. Their children increasingly populated the school district.
Though Sheldon was a public school, its teachers and administra-
tors went to considerable lengths to ensure that up- to- date digital
technologies were readily available for instruction. This was certainly
apparent when I visited to observe Ms. Bartow’s classroom. Arriving
first, I made my way to the edge of the room and sat in a chair with a
view of the whole space. Looking around, I counted five sections with
four pristine computers in each; the monitors were large and high
resolution, not unlike those I see professional designers use in my own
work in the tech industry.
A young man, clad in a jean vest and rainbow sneakers, walked
into the room not long after I had sat down. He passed me on the way
to his seat, pausing to introduce himself as Luke. “This class is great!”
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se He eventually took his seat in front of a computer, and just as the bell
r sth rang, Ms. Bartow and the remaining students shuffled into the room
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.sse get to it!” I looked around as students put on headphones and opened
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Introduction | 3
to show something on her computer. “Get a load of this,” she said. I
saw roughly twenty tiny boxes arranged on her screen and upon a
closer look realized that they were all miniature versions of computer
screens. They were moving in real time. “Isn’t this wild?” she said. “I
can watch what they’re doing on their computers, and I don’t even have
to patrol around the room.” Indeed, the screens looked not too differ-
ent from a series of surveillance cameras. Students mostly seemed to
be using the music composition software for their class project. “Look
here,” she said, pointing to one of the tiny windows. She clicked it. It
expanded to show a hip hop music video playing in a small browser
window. “Watch this,” she said with a smirk. Ms. Bartow then stood
up from her chair and yelled, “Hey! LUKE! Stop watching that video
and get back to work!” Luke was stunned. After a moment, I could see
from Ms. Bartow’s expanded screen that Luke had closed the music
video. He quickly got back to work on music composition.
What’s particularly interesting about these examples is that both of
these sixth- grade classes were focused on a creative activity for learn-
ing. At Heathcliff, students were creating a digital presentation about
the news, and at Sheldon, they were working on a music project using
composition software. Both classes had the latest in digital technology
to complete their activities, and classroom time at each was to be used
for independent work. The similarities end here. This same activity—
a student opening a music video— was interpreted by both teachers
differently. Although the class itself was centered on making music,
Ms. Bartow publicly sanctioned students for watching music videos
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se incorporated students’ broad interests in digital media into their news
r sth project. These teachers weren’t alone in their digital approaches. As I
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.sse demic year, I found that disciplining digital play in this way was the
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