The real divide. (editor's letter).

We've all become accustomed to the phrase Digital Divide. Up until now, it is used mostly to describe the gap between students who have access to computers and Internet connections at home, and those students who don't.

I propose we keep this phrase intact, but change its meaning. While the above-mentioned divide still exists, the more important divide, as Allen Schmieder (Top 25 honiree) points out, is between school districts and the rest of the business world.

Now don't think I'm going to get started on a diatribe about how school districts have to prepare students for the working world. While I think that's true to some degree, I don't want schools to leave what they do best--teach students how to work together, think independently and acquire a thirst for learning that lasts throughout life--to become mills that teach children how to interview well and type 60 words a minute.

But the inescapable truth is that most jobs today require at least some knowledge of computers or technology. Maine Gov. Angus King sums up the problem simply when he says that about 70 percent of his state's workforce uses computers everyday, but only 2 percent of its students have daily access to computers.

To remedy this discrepancy, King is using the state's $30 million budget surplus to supply all seventh and eighth graders with a laptop computer. While he wasn't the first to have this idea, he certainly seems to be trying to bridge the gap in the broadest terms.

His solution is just one way to integrate technology into students' everyday life. The other stories that make up the Top 25 Education Technology Advocates section reveal all sorts of innovative ways to improve not only what, but also how, students learn today.

The section highlights efforts that range from simple e-mail programs that have grown into worldwide collaboration projects, to how a California high school teacher revamped his school's vocational education to create an award-winning multimedia lab. The unifying theme behind each story seems to be an overwhelming urge to improve not only the education students receive, but also how they achieve their learning. This lesson is transferable even if your state doesn't have a $30 million budget to spend.

So the next time you think about the digital divide, don't think about it in terms of rich students and poor students, think about it as haves and have-nots, and how you can push your students into the have category.

Wayne D'Orio, Editorial Director