The Needy Will Face Obstacles to Getting Stimulus Payments

Ron Lieber and Alan Rappeport, "The Needy Will Face Obstacles to Getting Stimulus Payments," New York Times, April 3, 2020, B6

     Filing even the simplest of returns could pose challenges during a pandemic.  The I.R.S. does have a free filing site, but those who lack internet access could be unable to use it because nonprofits, libraries and other places are closed. 

COMMENT

     People with no internet or devices are dependent on shared public equipment.  That means they need to go to the library in order to file a tax return.  When libraries are closed, there is no place to file online or even to print out paper tax forms.   COVID 19 has brought the digital divide into stark focus since people who have not filed tax returns will also need to file online to get COVID relief checks.  With libraries closed, where will they do that?
 
    The situation has raised the call for internet as a public utility, but that still wouldn't assure access for everyone.  There still needs to be a public option for internet connections and working devices, and that has mainly turned out to be libraries.

Ann Pratchett on Why We Need Life-Changing Books Right Now

Ann Pratchett, Ann Patchett on Why We Need Life-Changing Books Right Now new York Times, March 30, 2020. Online

     Kate [DiCamillo]and her publicist and I sat in tiny chairs at a tiny table in the school library and ate our salads. They made a big fuss over how nice I was to bring them lunch. The whole encounter lasted less than 30 minutes. Then Kate gave a talk in an auditorium packed with kids and their parents. I hadn’t meant to stay but then I did. She talked about her mother’s vacuum cleaner. She was great.

COMMENT

     The school librarian has invited author Kate DiCamillo to talk to the students, which inspires author and bookseller Ann Pratchett to read a kind of children's literature she did not expect to enjoy.  

Locked Out of the Virtual Classroom

New York Times Editorial Board, Locked Out of the Virtual Classroom, New York Times, March 27, 2020. Online.

     Jessica Rosenworcel, a Federal Communications Commission member who has been proselytizing on this issue for several years, has rightly called on the F.C.C. to use funds earmarked for connecting schools and libraries to the internet to provide schools with internet hot spots that could be lent to students.
…
     Commissioner Rosenworcel’s access plan focuses on expanding the federal program known as E-Rate, which helps qualifying schools, school systems and libraries acquire broadband at up to a 90 percent discount. E-Rate program funding is based on demand, up to an annual F.C.C.-established cap of $4.15 billion. It would be a simple matter for the commission to extend the program so that schools can buy hot spots that are then distributed to needy students.
     But given the dire need in poor and rural communities, it would also be right to leverage E-Rate — or something like it — to bring permanent broadband into homes for millions of internet-deprived schoolchildren and subsistence workers.

COMMENT

     Schools and libraries are trying to compensate for a digital divide that means some people have fast Internet access and some don't.  They aren't getting much support, possibly because they seem to be a stopgap when the real goal is to get everyone fast internet access from home.  

     Internet would help people get connected since smartphones seem ubiquitous.  However,  the barrier isn't just the Internet connection-- it's also having a device to do homework on, and maybe a printer.  At my house three people share one laptop.  We don't own a printer because we used to be able to go to the library when we needed to print.  Electronic devices become obsolete very, very quickly.  An additional burden on people too poor for Internet is, how will they continue to upgrade their devices?   The global trend seems to be that the ubiquitous computer is a smartphone.  Will poor students end up trying to write term papers on their phones?