Arkansas R.F.D.

The digital divide is the Achille's Heel of the distance learning buzz. Effective distance learning can require significant bandwidth. Most in Arkansas still rely on dial-up to access the internet, which can be agonizingly slow and unreliable, especially in the rural areas. They say that every school is connected to the internet. They may be, but do the students have access?

When we discussing this in the Ledge, we found out that many schools were "connected" but no computers were attached.

All of this computer education excitement is assuming that each child has access to a computer at home as well as in school. We need to address this critical have/have-not situation before we declare that rural schools can excel on computers alone.

Has anyone seen those wireless network cards you can get for your laptop that work with the cellular phone network? These things could solve alot of our problems. Yes I know: there are huge areas of Arkansas that don't have coverage. But that is changing. As we fill in the gaps with cellular coverage, I think we will see the digital divide disapear, leaving the economic divide we've all come to know and love.