Tech Is New Basic
Kai Dupé • May 9, 2021
Literacy now includes digital literacy
Over the years I have had several discussions on Facebook regarding technology integration in our schools. Many people still wish to hold on to this idea that our schools should not focus on technology and just focus on the basics. They are mistaken. These attitudes are why the digital divide persists. I am so tired of hearing this silly argument.
This mindset must be changed. And to be honest I spend a great deal of time trying to do just that. I do not want the next generation of our young people to be the designated serfs of the information age. What exactly are the BASICS? Most folks would define the basics as reading, writing and arithmetic.
So, the idea is that we should not teach our young people about technology but focus on the basic subjects. Here is the problem with that. Do you think those subjects are taught without using technology? What exactly do these folks think a chalkboard, a pen, a book, a pencil, or an overhead projector is? These things ARE technology.
What do you consider the basics? What do you consider technology? There is no such line between learning the basics and using technology. Therefore, I use the word INTEGRATION. It should all be one and the same the way it was when I was in school. I was not taught ‘the basics’ sans technology.
Technology was all around us while we learned the basics. Technology is now part of the basics. Those who are unable to navigate technology will be locked out the same way that years ago those who could not read or write were locked out. Remember we did not learn our basics without technology. A book is a form of technology.
No one said learn how to read, and you can use the technology (book) after you learn to read. No. You learned to read from a book. And now you may learn to read an eBook or an electronic book using an e-reader. Please tell me what is the difference?
Look at the comments from a PhD student in Carnegie Mellon’s Computer science department regarding the teaching of computer science in our schools. These comments are from a recent study:
The point is not that every student needs to become a computer scientist, but that all students have the basic knowledge they need to understand an increasingly technological world, said Leigh Ann Sudol, a PhD student in Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science Department and another study co-author.
What is considered basic has changed and technology has become the new basic!
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Stepping onto the campus of Morehouse College this past weekend for Admitted Students Day was more than a visit—it was a moment of reflection. As I watched young Black men walk with purpose across the yard, I found myself asking a simple but profound question: What would it have been like for me to study computer science here? My journey into computing was shaped in environments where I was often the only Black man in the room. That reality brings with it an unspoken weight—the need to prove you belong, the awareness of being watched, and sometimes, the quiet isolation that comes with underrepresentation. Standing at Morehouse, I realized that this burden is not a given. It is a condition of the environment. At Morehouse, the environment is different by design. Here, Black men are not anomalies—they are the standard. I imagined what it would feel like to learn algorithms, data structures, and software development in a space where my identity was not questioned but affirmed. Where excellence is expected, not in spite of who you are, but because of it. As a computer science professor, I understand the academic rigor required to succeed in this field. There is no shortcut through recursion, no bypass around debugging, no substitute for disciplined problem-solving. But what struck me during my visit is how much context matters. When students are free from the psychological burden of proving they belong, they can redirect that energy toward mastering the material. They can collaborate more openly, ask questions more freely, and take intellectual risks without fear. I also thought about legacy. At Morehouse, students walk the same grounds as Martin Luther King Jr.. That kind of history does something to a person. It raises the bar—not just academically, but personally. It invites students to see their education not just as a pathway to a career, but as preparation for impact. Leaving campus, I felt inspired—but also reflective. I cannot rewrite my journey, but I can appreciate what spaces like Morehouse offer the next generation. For a Black male pursuing computer science, it is more than a degree. It is an opportunity to develop skill, confidence, and identity in alignment. And that combination is powerful.