[geeks] $100 One Laptop Per Child - grist for the mill

[Robert Brooke Gravitt]

On Nov 18, 2006, at 7:44 PM, William Kirkland wrote:

> Education *is* important, though there are basic needs which have
> priority, just so that the potential students will learn. Until those
> needs have been addressed, one may find a tree would make a better
> student.

This subject is of particular interest to me; a similar one (the  
benefit of computers in the classroom) was part of my master's  
thesis. I'm not up for getting into a flame war, but my research  
findings surprised me then- by and large, computers in classrooms  
have been a colossal failure. From the perspective of money spent  
(and value added, or return on investment) it's surprisingly bad.  
There are many who benefit, for sure- but the implementation of the  
programs and the effectiveness of the instructors generally was found  
lacking.
The amount of money spent on computer/laptop programs in this country  
is staggering. The benefits are arguable. The shortage of textbooks  
and decrease in scores in subjects like math and science (which might  
seem to be the ones most likely to benefit) is real.

I can see this as a very noble and well-intentioned idea, but my  
guess is that it's a bit premature for laptops. In many of the  
African countries, computer literacy is not the issue. There are  
educated folks who are struggling obtaining the basic personal needs  
& societal breakdown, due to war or famine. The computers aren't  
going to help there.

Africa (being the subject of much of the literature of the OLPC  
initiative) is an interesting subject for me as well, as I hosted a  
Liberian student in my home in high school, my dad was briefly  
stationed in South Africa, and one of my friends was murdered there  
while on a missionary trip (ironically enough, he was murdered while  
thieves broke in to steal computers from the place he was going to IM  
his girlfriend.)

Anyway, just my $0.02.

--Brooke