Emmanuel is a fifth grader in rural Nigeria, and in most respects, he is just like most kids are at his age: curious, inquisitive and eager to learn.

There is, however, one major difference between him and most American students that will severely handicap his education. The school he attends cannot afford electricity or running water, much less personal computers or other technology necessary for competitive education in today’s world.

We are American college students, raised on myriad of amenities and technology in excess. The vast majority of us have grown accustomed to compact, powerful laptops, wireless access to the internet and even entire college courses conducted online.

But what about the nearly two billion children in the developing world who receive a sub-par education, or none at all? One in three doesn’t finish fifth grade. Almost a billion people can’t read, write or operate simple electronics. It is not hard to imagine what sort of detrimental effect these disadvantages can have on a student’s future.

It’s called the Digital Divide, and it puts Emmanuel and others like him at an acute disadvantage.

But there are solutions to this horrible discrepancy in education. An organization called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has developed an ultra-cheap, nearly unbreakable laptop designed especially for children in developing countries. It only costs $200 to manufacture and ship, and is equipped with wireless Internet, word processing and video-capture technology, as well as multiple educational applications in all subjects. Dubbed the “$100 laptop” (its developers expect to be able to produce it for about $100 in the near future), this little, green device has the potential to revolutionize education in poor countries. Already, national governments like Uruguay and Rwanda have ordered millions of units for their countries’ students. You can see the affects for yourself at www.laptop.org.

Other charities such as UNICEF (which has a chapter at KU) have similar programs to promote education among children living below the poverty line. Once basic needs like food and shelter are met, it is most important that a child in a developing country receives a good education. This process works because it is a long-term, cost-effective way to positively affect the development of an exponential number of people.

We all know that education is a powerful thing. It is about time that we shake off the rust of complacency, and devote ourselves to making the world a better place. Students at the University of Kansas do have the power to change things.

The term “poor college student” is cliché. And worse, it is simply not true. Compared to $200 per student in developing nations, American expenditures on public education are closer to $10,000 per student. And that’s just public primary education. We are constantly complaining about rising tuition at KU. But we don’t know the first thing about hardship.

And think about how much money we spend on completely unnecessary consumption like iPods, beer and new white Nikes. American college students spend an average of nearly $1,300 per year on entertainment alone. And then think about how much of a difference that money could make for a village that can’t even afford books, not to mention laptops, for school.

So next time you are buying a new computer, instead of spending hundreds of extra dollars to upgrade to the fancy new audio/video device that you don’t really need, use that money to buy a child a computer that will give him a fraction of the opportunity that you have been given.

Emmanuel, by the way, was one of the first children to receive a “$100 laptop.” He loves it, and even takes it home at night to share what he has learned with his family. He has the world at his fingertips. He can check national and world news, read online books, and talk to students from places as far away as India and Brazil. He can even read this article on Kansan.com.

He was one of the lucky ones. With our help, his now-bright future could be shared by an entire generation. A generation that will be better educated, and better prepared to deal with problems such as war, famine and disease that they will inevitably encounter in a world where the odds are stacked against them.

Petterson is a Prairie Village junior in English.