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


   it's not that every single last child would
use a laptop, or even use it appropriately.
   the point is that there are enough people
(children mainly) who will use and benefit
from having a computer that the totality
presents economies of scale in enough
measure to justify making these things.
   negroponte describes first-use cases in
impoverished groups: the big delight after
they start up the computer is that it provides
light in their one room at night.
   i believe they've thought about the situation
quite a bit.


On Jan 14, 2007, at 6:56 PM, mcooper wrote:


On Jan 13, 2007, at 8:23 AM, Yishay Mor wrote:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid79489195/bclid60818931/ bctid336122058
Negraponte, Papert and Bender explain.

On 02/01/07, Anthony Papillion <anthony@xxxxxxxx> wrote:I couldn't agree more.
Since I first heard of the OLPC program, I've found it insane.
 
When your world is dominated by where your next meal is coming from and IF your next meal is coming, you probably aren't too concerned about things like PC's, the Internet, etc.
 
This is one project that should die an early and fast death.
 

It is a tough call, isn't it? These people are using what they know best to do something for kids in developing countries. In the interview, Negroponte says, "I can't think of anything better," and that might be most important line. These OLPC people are sincere and mean well, but you don't think they have thought enough about it yet. I would say in their benefit that they are doing what they know. They are using what resources they have. They know PCs, so that is what they are offering.

So what do you give children in developing countries? Financial aid? Or do you teach them to fish? One of the biggest problems with these countries is political corruption and exploitation. So do you give them guns? What are the other options? The developing countries need safety and political stability first. They need food, shelter, and security more than PCs. True. But OLPC people cannot give them peace and security.

Perhaps OLPC should be giving laptops to poor African-American families in Mississippi and opening camps to teach them. What about poor Appalachians and the children of the working poor? Or how about young people on Indian reservations? How about the children of illegal farm workers? Or what about the homeless children in America? Those children go to school. How about computers in homeless shelters and staff to teach children there? Steve Hargadan has a podcast with one of the people involved in a project to put computers in homeless shelters, and she is a PhD who herself was a homeless child.

I do think we should do something for children in the developing world, but Negroponte and the MIT people are perhaps not the ones to do it at this stage. They cannot affect military dictators who use children as soldiers and sex slaves. They cannot change corrupt politicians who siphon off oil profits and leave their citizens starving in mud huts. OLPC could, however, do a lot for the poor in the US, because information would really give poor children a way out of the cycle of poverty.