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Students Searching for Universal Data

I love looking at the cellular data network coverage maps showing where your phone will be able to connect to the Internet. Every carrier has their own version, spangled in the company colors so you know who to thank. But in a way, these maps aren’t just advertorial: they show the edge of modern civilization. After all, mobile data is quickly becoming the new standard for Internet access; smart devices are the preferred platform for everyone from doctors and nurses to college students and presidents. It is like a systemic paraphrasing of The Lion King: “Everything the data map covers …

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The tech divide: An opportunity gap schools must close

By Robert Baker Computer programming is growing at twice the average rate of national job growth according to Code.org —and by 2020 there could be nearly a million more IT jobs than U.S. college graduates available to fill them, representing a $500 billion economic opportunity waiting to be realized. Living in Silicon Valley, I see firsthand the impact that technology skills make on one’s earning potential. Often times a college graduate with an IT degree can find a job with a six-figure salary right out of college. Growing up with access to technology, and the opportunity to learn key IT …

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Expert: Opportunity gap widening in America

The economic status of the parents of today’s P-20 students determines the long-term economic quality of the children’s lives more today than in previous generations. In other words, children living in poverty conditions are more likely to stay in them throughout adulthood than in previous generations, according to  new information from Robert Putnam, author of ““Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis”  which examines how kids experience inequality the most and also its devastating long-term effects. Putnam reveals to Mind/Shift that the opportunity gap is making it impossible for a third of kids to gain access to the right steps …

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