The Mother Jones Podcast

Online Learning During the Pandemic Is Extra Tough Where Wifi Is Illegal


Listen Later

Schools across the country have closed to slow the spread of COVID-19, and classes have moved online. For most students, disruptions to regular learning have been challenging enough. But for those without high-speed internet, even filing homework has become next-to impossible, resulting in plunging grades and widespread uncertainty. In today’s episode, the Mother Jones Podcast team takes you to a place where wifi is illegal: Green Bank, West Virginia. This small town is home to a super-sensitive radio telescope built in 1958 that scientists use to explore black holes and deep space. But closer to Earth, wifi interferes with the giant instrument, so it’s banned within a 10-square-mile radius. Meanwhile, hard-wired internet is mind-numbingly slow. Fifteen percent of students here don’t have internet access at home, while 30 percent don’t have access to a device that even connects to the internet, no matter where they are. Producer Molly Schwartz talks to students, teachers, and librarians in Pocahontas County about what it’s like to do distance learning in a place where the internet infrastructure just can't deal, revealing the nation's entrenched digital divides as the pandemic shakes the education system to its core.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Mother Jones PodcastBy Mother Jones

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

1,063 ratings


More shows like The Mother Jones Podcast

View all
Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,818 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,468 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,814 Listeners

On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,183 Listeners

The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

10,727 Listeners

Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,432 Listeners

Bite by Mother Jones

Bite

219 Listeners

Pod Save America by Crooked Media

Pod Save America

87,248 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,200 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,266 Listeners

Stay Tuned with Preet by Preet Bharara

Stay Tuned with Preet

32,325 Listeners

The Atlantic Interview by The Atlantic

The Atlantic Interview

2,134 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,346 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,863 Listeners

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

10,728 Listeners

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent by Greg Sargent

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

768 Listeners