Gorski's Multicultural Education Approach example essay topic
406 words
Paul Gorski, in his article "How Computers STILL Cheat Girls", argues that, although women have become a majority of the online population, most gender inequities have not been eliminated. It is therefore necessary that we change the traditional thinking concerning the "digital divide". Gorski firstly points out that the number of females who use the Internet does not mean that women have obtained an equal treatment on the Internet. In fact, lots of gender inequities occur on the Internet. The Internet pornography industry even has caused the Internet to become a "potentially dangerous environment" for women. In addition, while computers and the Internet are linked to the "traditionally male filed of mathematics, sciences [and] engineering", most women, however, have traditionally been shifted in their focus to study the arts since elementary school. Therefore, there are some cultural factors implicated in the "digital divide". Moreover, in order to pursue more profits, businessmen produce more video games to cater to men's needs than to women's. This phenomenon shows that the "digital divide" also includes social factors. Furthermore, even though more and more non-white students are using the Internet, the racial digital divide has not been ended by their use of the computer and the Internet.
As a result, it is essential for us to understand the "digital divide" more deeply and broadly. To help people better understand and solve the "digital divide", Gorski recommends "a multicultural education". There are seven important points in his approach: the multicultural education enlarges an understanding of "technology-related inequities in the contest of educational and societal inequities"; encourages people to learn all technology-related fields; confirms computer and the Internet are equally used by all kinds of people; broadens the definition of "access"; helps people know that technologies are available to everyone, everywhere; rejects as a solution the mere provision of more computers; and rejects any solution that does not aim to eliminate the divide. Gorski's multicultural education approach not only helps people obtain equal access to all science fields, but it also helps people play an equal part in science.
Finally, Gorski says that the multicultural education approach will become more and more important as information technology is used in all aspects of life. Moreover, Gorski reminds people that broadly and deeply understanding equity is a key to help people eliminate all kinds of inequities in the future.
