Maine's Laptops: Editorial

The Bangor Daily News finds the laptop program worthy,

The early results of Maine's 18-month-old program conclude not only that seventh-grade teachers find laptops improve attendance and the quality of student work; they also provide a wider range of course materials, allow students to use significantly more up-to-date information and create that most important of all traits: enthusiasm for learning. They are in many ways more important than the textbooks schools would not consider giving up.

And laptops provide equity of information, giving more resources to the state's poorest schools than any study commission on the problem ever has. Every school with skilled teachers and curious students and electricity, no matter how rich or poor their communities, are on a level playing field with the laptop program. The federal government has noticed this too and last year spent $2.7 billion in support of this and similar technology.