The recent question of whether students should have homework typically concerns whether students should have to learn/study outside of school hours. If you are a student with no Internet access at home, your homework may be stressful for a very different reason. This NYTimes story considers the inequity in home access to the Internet and how this inequity relates to education expectations.
When does Internet access become an assumed opportunity in the way access to effective high-speed roads were considered an assumption so many decades ago. Sometimes the common good must be a responsibility of the government.
The divide is driving action at the federal level. Members of the Federal Communications Commission are expected to vote next month on repurposing a roughly $2 billion-a-year phone subsidy program, known as Lifeline, to include subsidies for broadband services in low-income homes.