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Re: [school-discuss] One Laptop Per Child?



I second that motion!
Teprine
--- David Whitmer <thewhitmers@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Just to add to the discussion...
> 
> It has been my impression that some criticisms of
> OLPC, especially
> those criticisms highlighting the need in some
> countries for basic
> necessities, are rooted in an apparent
> misunderstanding of OLPC.
> 
> I mean this respectfully, but at least some OLPC
> criticisms I have
> read elsewhere are often clearly from people who
> read about an
> MIT-originated project to sell millions of laptops
> to poor African
> countries, and started reacting to that little bit
> of information
> rather than first attempting to learn what OLPC is,
> and what it is
> not.  In many of those same critical comments are
> what I perceive as a
> subtle double-standard; on one hand the commentator
> comments on how
> arrogant MIT is for assuming it knows what poor
> children need most,
> often followed immediately by that same commentator
> stating what he
> thinks poor children need most.
> 
> Different people have different needs.  Some
> desperately need food.
> Obviously, a free laptop will not help someone who
> is currently
> starving and malnourished.  But it would help
> someone who has food to
> eat, water to drink, shelter and clothing, but
> cannot afford to buy
> textbooks, paper and pencils, or cannot afford to go
> to school
> regularly.  It would be especially helpful if that
> laptop is
> relatively rugged, has been preloaded with textbook
> and other
> educational content, and does not require an
> electrical outlet to
> operate.
> 
> From their own web site, OLPC is essentially based
> on the following
> principle: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a
> day. Teach him
> how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."  These
> laptops are about
> getting tools for learning into the hands of
> children, many millions
> of children, so they can learn.
> 
> I respectfully ask those getting ready to criticize
> OLPC to first
> attempt to understand what that project is about,
> and what it does not
> attempt to be.  More information about OLPC is at
> its web site at
> http://www.laptop.org/
> 
> David Whitmer
> 
> p.s. I am not affiliated with OLPC in any way, nor
> do I have any
> vested interested in either its success or failure. 
> I am just a
> technology director at a small parochial K-12 school
> in midwestern
> USA.  I have been following news of OLPC for quite
> some time now, and
> have read a lot about the project, about the
> technical details of the
> laptops (hardware and software) and about OLPC's
> stated goals, as well
> as criticisms of OLPC.
> 


Teprine Baldo 
  Bleu Rouge Productions
  (514) 201-7801
  (514) 522-3168
   


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