Apr

28

The $100 Laptop Project

April 28, 2007 |

The One Laptop Per Child Project is full of good intentions, but I wonder if it is the best use of someone’s money and effort. Everyone is entitled to spend his time, effort and money in any way they seem fit: that is one of the principles of being free. However, spending money on giving laptops to children that may not have good basic education may be a waste of time.Reading, math, history, physical education and science are things that you can learn with old fashioned schools with teachers and books: what I think is a pre-requisite for good public education. I think that in the long run, regular schools may benefit the children more and will cost less to maintain than the laptops. If someone asked me where I would prefer to put $100, I would say towards teacher education.

The benefits:
This kind of laptop, however, may serve as a self-teaching aide. Many children around the world may be able to learn by themselves the good and the bad of the world without interference from any preconceptions the adults on their countries may have. This is not as bad as it sounds. Maybe children in communist countries will learn the good things about capitalism (assuming they are not censored). Maybe children in socialist countries will learn that the children of Texas are not as bad as they think, and the children in Texas will learn that socialism and communism are not bad words (even if it they are bad forms of government, in my opinion). Maybe children in war zones will be able to keep learning while their schools are closed due to violence.

The hidden costs:
I am not sure the visionaries in this project are considering the hidden costs of laptops around the world. Anyone who has used a computer knows how prone they are to malfunctioning: either due to software, misconfiguration, or hardware failure. Would these kids have access to technical support? Would this laptops be easy to repair in the field? Or will they end up costing more to repair than to trow away in the nearest landfill? Also, these laptops are a bit limited without Internet access. Sure, they do come with integrated Wi-Fi, but will the Internet infrastructure support them – at speeds that may be useful for instruction? I am sure the technology is there, but are the people to support it and the funds to sustain it available?

Technology transfer:
In a Prime Directive (geeky) way of thinking, transferring technology is risky. People may not be prepared to use it. Maybe there are some pre-requisites that cultures must learn or go through before they engage in culturally and technologically advanced projects. Quickly advancing through technology may prevent them from learning important lessons that are needed to fully appreciate and take advantage of the technology. This not only applies to technology: it also applies to economy. For example, many Latin-American countries fell into huge, difficult to pay debts, when the industrialized nations tried to modernize their economies. This created some resentment that can be still felt in these nations – resentment that may have steered some of them into less than perfect political and economic situations.


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