The Kid Without a Computer

The kid without a computer walks into my room at this 1-1 school. All the other students get their laptops out obediently and look up what they are supposed to look up. The bell rings, and the student without a laptop just sits there looking kind of lost.

Sure, it’s probably his fault that he doesn’t have a computer. He might have lost the charger or he might have done something to break it, but it’s still a misery for both him and me. My lessons hinge on the use of some kind of technology. And as long as there is that one kid without a computer, I have to double prepare each day knowing that there will always be someone out there who isn’t prepared.

I bring this up because I have been thinking about the healthcare debacle as of late. There was a report about how very few people have actually signed up for the healthcare exchanges available online. And certainly the crapfest launch of that sad website has something to do with it, but seriously, who are the people who don’t have insurance in this country? They are probably the same people who still don’t have the internet, a computer, nor the means to get them.

I could just see those faceless millions of uninsured Americans in my mind; this mass of people that we want to get enrolled in a complicated government program that will probably cost them at least some money. These people who have no access to anything. If I can’t get that one kid in my classroom online at a wealthy school, how in the world can we, as a nation, reach those millions with no access at all?

I’m sure someone smarter than I am has already figured it out, right?