Cynthia L. Selfe’s book Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century, opened several doors of inquiry for questions about what is considered “literate” not only when her book was published, but today as well. Computers are expensive, but unfortunately are almost a requirement to everyday life concerning school, work, recreation, and everything else that is dealt with on the world wide web.
I have in the past realized that computer literacy is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted because I grew up in schools that had computers and as students we had access to them for school purposes. Selfe writes “In other words, the poorer and the less educated Americans are in this country-both of which conditions continue to be closely correlated with race-the less likely they are to have access to computers and to high-paying high-tech jobs” (7). I understand that I was fortunate along with many others. However, until I read Selfe I didn’t really take the time to think about how many people still don’t have access due to their race or class. Does this perhaps set us back as humankind because we aren’t attempting to help those who are expected to be computer literate yet don’t have access to become so?
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