Mental Nourishment for the Impoverished

While I was thinking that clean water and healthy food would be key to focus on for children in poverty, a futurist has poured resources into his intiative: One Laptop Per Child. A laptop for every child, eh? Will this advance the cause of education in third-world countries so that children have access to technology and can compete with kids from industrialized nations like our own?

Or does it simply ensure that they'll surpass us at solitaire?

I originally read about this at the Mental Floss blog. They deserve credit for the solitaire jab.

(Actually, I've heard that a lot of African leaders have cited education as a top priority--seeing it as essential for change in the next generations. As a result, this very well could supply children with resources that could increase knowledge. We may need people to donate encyclopedias to load onto the laptops, too.)