During his first week in office, President Joe Biden outlined his COVID-19 strategy for Americans, part of which was aimed at getting children back into the classroom. After almost a year-long absence for many schoolchildren, there are numerous details to be worked out and teachers’ concerns to be addressed before schools will be able to reopen. In the meantime, millions of students and educators will continue remote learning, making reliable connectivity more important than ever. This vital educational tool could be jeopardized, however, by an under-the-radar threat unbeknownst to most Americans — “patent trolls.” These businesses exist solely to use acquired patent rights to extort funds from their targets, but in this instance, the damage could extend beyond monetary to impacting the ability of students and educators to successfully continue remote learning.
While America’s wireless networks are up to the task of supporting online learning, access to those networks can be much more difficult for families with limited financial resources. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 80% of households with school-age children were using some form of online distance learning last spring, but students from lower-income families often fell far behind more affluent classmates.
In a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, almost 60% of lower-income parents said their children faced digital obstacles in their schoolwork, about twice the rate experienced by higher-income homes. Furthermore, significant percentages of remote learning students had to do their homework on cellphones or use public Wi-Fi due to unreliable Internet connections at home. More than one of every five of these same parents said they are not able to complete their assignments because they have no online access at home, at all.
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