Our September/October 2006 issue featured our annual presentation of the TR35, our list of 35 noteworthy innovators under the age of 35.

The TR35
Matthew Herren's vision of enabling educational opportunities for young Africans is to be applauded for focusing on the most disenfranchised people in the world ("TR35: Young Innovators with This Year's Best Ideas," September/October 2006).

I believe there is a blind spot in Mr. Herren's vision, however. He argues that many paper-based educational materials are far beyond the means of many poor families, and that the solution to this problem is to switch from paper-based media to electronically based media--and yet he doesn't say how such a switch would reduce costs. Electronic delivery mechanisms require power, via battery or dedicated electrical-transmission lines. I can state from experience that the overwhelming majority of Africans have no access to electricity and could not power their electronic learning-delivery devices even if they could afford them.