One Laptop Per Child

Charles Lowman

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One Laptop Per Child - One Laptop per Child

Tens of thousands of these are being used in Haiti.
I've got a team working on a fund raising initiative to bring a thousand of these with us to DR. A wonderful child-friendly laptop that runs Windows, Linux, tons of great FREE open-source software, crab networking that allows students to collaborate and share screens, built in camera, microphone, speakers, game pad, screen optimized for outdoor use even on sunny days, hand-crank battery charger or solar power. This XO laptop and open source software movement are the kinds of tools that are building bridges across the digital divide.
 

the gorgon

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funny you mention that computer today, charles, as i just made mention of it yesterday. yes, the DR government huffed and puffed up a good storm two years ago, about signing on to that program. as they do with everything else , it was all hat, and no cattle. so, while Uruguay has given one to every kid, and Haiti has thousands in service, the DR just has it as one more unfulfilled promise.
 

Charles Lowman

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Great. Now how about 1 meal per child? :)

One of the videos for OLPC, is narrated by a child who is walking home from school through a South African shantytown (not much unlike the barrios and bateys of DR) with her XO laptop. At one point of the video she looks into the camera, thanks the person who donated the laptop to her and says "with education, we can solve our own problems".

While it is certainly true that there are a host of human needs that can be prioritized in any given order. One need doesn't have to be ignored at the expense of the other. Food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care are all part of the same model for human sustenance and development. If one part suffers the whole model suffers.

BTW. Are you currently involved in any project or initiative to feed the hungry there in DR?
 
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MaineGirl

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I'm interested in this topic, I have studied a good bit about OLPC and I do research in open educational resources. So is this on the table for DR kids?
 

Twix

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I think it's a good idea. The dominicans don't need food, they have food, they need an education so they can get off their lazy butts and work.
 

all is lost

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Charity begins at home

Why don't do stay home and make sure every kid in your country has a laptop.
 

Charles Lowman

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Why don't do stay home and make sure every kid in your country has a laptop.

Most kids in my country, USA, have access to computers. If they don't have them in their homes they have them in school or local library. American kids are so spoiled and entitled, that they'd look at the XO laptop and toss it in the toy bin, in favor of one of the 2 or 3 video game consoles that they own. With all the access to technology and the latest educational instructional models, amongst 30 developed nations, American kids rank 25th in Math and 21st in Science.

American kids don't need charity. They need the best teachers that money can buy. They need a good swift kick in the rear or a belt strap across the bottom. They need parents who have secure employment with living wages. Perhaps then, the kid can get the kind of supervision and stress-free home environment that he/she needs. If America stopped sending her sons and daughters to kill poor people in unjust wars and stopped ****ing off billions of tax-payers dollars to bankroll her global hegemony, there would be plenty of dollars to fix what is wrong with America and enough left over to assist initiatives in poor developing countries.

In a country that is lacking in either the will or resources to fund its schools, putting a laptop in the hands of a child and instructing teachers how to get the most use out of it can go a long way to inspiring and encouraging a child to want to learn and stay in school until the inept leadership and infrastructure catches up.

Don't be such a whiner. Re-align your backbone and have a little faith...contrary to what you may believe...All is NOT lost.
 
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engineerfg

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Back to the debate of OLPC:

1. Did you have a laptop growing up then? Did your education suffer? I didn't need a laptop to learn the classics, or Yeats, or thermodynamics or partial differential equations. Classic

2. And so great, thousands of laptops are distributed through the Haiti, great, now open that web browser and oh wait, what's this? no net connection? so no wikipedia? no free thermodynamics tutorials? how exactly are these OLPC devices supposed to hook up to the network in the middle of minot? What's next? 1 fiber network per child? 1 WAN per child?

3. The top performing students in maths and sciences in europe are still coming from Romania, Poland, Russia... do you think they have laptops as kids? How exactly does having access to online porn increase someone's ability to think, to learn, or to 'feed themselves'.


This project is just a silicon valley Western world wank session, talking about bringing 'digital innovation' to the developing world. What rubbish.

How about: 1 teacher per child? 1 meal per child? 1 textbook per child? 1 source of reliable water per child?
 
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engineerfg

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One of the videos for OLPC, is narrated by a child who is walking home from school through a South African shantytown (not much unlike the barrios and bateys of DR) with her XO laptop. At one point of the video she looks into the camera, thanks the person who donated the laptop to her and says "with education, we can solve our own problems".

While it is certainly true that there are a host of human needs that can be prioritized in any given order. One need doesn't have to be ignored at the expense of the other. Food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care are all part of the same model for human sustenance and development. If one part suffers the whole model suffers.

BTW. Are you currently involved in any project or initiative to feed the hungry there in DR?

Charles, that video you watched, is produced by OLPC productions. It's an infomercial, and not a reality.

Here's the reality:

1. the device costs $189 per child as it's bill of materials. how many books can a school buy for that in a library? books last forever, laptops don't.

2. $189 per child for a 2-3 year lifespan, well that could buy a reasonable amount of food no?

3. 189$ up front cost, but then they have to have an amoratized network cost on the backend, how much will they pay for broadband?

ugh, this project is just a big wank fest.

""Sir, our village has no water!"
"Dammit Jose, get these people some new glassware so they can drink!"
 
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Excellent post Charles Lowman. Very insightful engineerfg, you both make very good points!!!! I never had a laptop when I was growing up and the only reason I'm using one now is because someone gave me this one, the one I'm using now. So I'm partial to books. Maybe laptops could help Dominican kids since their is more of an infrastructure?
Hopefully the debate won't end here, carry on gentlemen!
 
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the gorgon

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engineerfg makes some insightful comments, but i myself lean towards the notion of scientific advancement. surely, not all advancement makes for progress. for instance, i have heard old tube amplifiers from the 70s which will blow away any ipod. however, that does not mean that there is no legitimate place for the ipod, because it is really inconvenient taking my Marantz 8B around with me.
 

bob saunders

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My son just taught in China for the past two years. He said Chinese kids start learning Trig in grade 5. School starts around 7 in the morning and goes to 5 at night, later for high school. No computers in most schools, except the larger more prestigious high schools.
Computers are wonderful devices, but can be incredible time-wasters and not a good solution in a country without reliable electricity....etc.
 
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Africaida

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3. The top performing students in maths and sciences in europe are still coming from Romania, Poland, Russia... do you think they have laptops as kids? How exactly does having access to online porn increase someone's ability to think, to learn, or to 'feed themselves'.

Interesting comment Engineerfg, however the top perfoming students in Math and Science in Europe are not coming from these countries. In fact, in the 2009 survey, these countries are doing below the OECD average.

PISA 2009 Results: What Students Know and Can Do: Student Performance in Reading, Mathematics and Science (Volume I)

or for a WIKI summary: Programme for International Student Assessment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Although I would agree with you that the access to laptops is not in direct proportion to students performance, the top 10 countries in Reading, Math and Sciences DO have a access to computers.

But, I understand your reservation on the feasibility of such projects. Personally, I am more in favor of funding the school with computers, books, etc....
 

windeguy

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funny you mention that computer today, charles, as i just made mention of it yesterday. yes, the DR government huffed and puffed up a good storm two years ago, about signing on to that program. as they do with everything else , it was all hat, and no cattle. so, while Uruguay has given one to every kid, and Haiti has thousands in service, the DR just has it as one more unfulfilled promise.

The wrath of Pichardo will rain down upon you!!

What did happen with this program?
 
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engineerfg

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Interesting comment Engineerfg, however the top perfoming students in Math and Science in Europe are not coming from these countries. In fact, in the 2009 survey, these countries are doing below the OECD average.

PISA 2009 Results: What Students Know and Can Do: Student Performance in Reading, Mathematics and Science (Volume I)

or for a WIKI summary: Programme for International Student Assessment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Although I would agree with you that the access to laptops is not in direct proportion to students performance, the top 10 countries in Reading, Math and Sciences DO have a access to computers.

But, I understand your reservation on the feasibility of such projects. Personally, I am more in favor of funding the school with computers, books, etc....


I may be splitting hairs here, but let's NOT look at the results of league tables of which schools perform well, let's look at the *top* performing math and science students.

For that, let's look at the results of for example the international mathematics olympiads - where the top math students in the world go to annually.

Here's the top list of countries by gold medals since day 1:

International Mathematical Olympiad


China
USA
Hungary
Former USSR
Russia
Romania
Bulgaria
Germany
Vietnam
Korea
UK
Iran
Japan
Ukraine


Screw one laptop per child, I think the more borscht, pickled eggs, and communism you subject your kids to, the better they'll be in Math!

Also note, the results of the physics olympiad from my personal experiences where the same. All those eastern bloc countries killed the nintendo generation of the west.

FINALLY, if you want empirical results, go to the top schools in America, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, surf to their engineering and medical school programs, and have a look at the list of graduate students.... notice something? Ya, the 'ia's' ie. india, romania, bulgaria, and the 'stans' (pakistan, afghanistan, etc) are very well represented.

None of these students needed laptops (which didn't function because electricity and network connectivity wasn't available in their village), they just had their knuckles wrapped with math books and well the rest is history.

This country needs more teachers with a protastant work ethic, not shiny useless laptops. To achieve that, it needs a government that won't spend on jeeps and bs, and will instead invest in good teachers and old school inexpensive resources.

But we all know that will never happen. The country is trapped in a downward spiral into the toilet. Sucks if you're into collectivism and pooling of resources, but it's a libertarian's wet dream. So let's enjoy it while we can, before the flushing sound is done. Wheeeeee!!!
 

Charles Lowman

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This country needs more teachers with a protastant work ethic,

Which Protestants? The ones who built the pyramids? Or the one's who tried to destroy this knowledge? The ones who are deeply indebted to the yellow slant-eyed Protestants in "Communist" China? The ones who are stupid enough to be duped into sending their sons and daughters into battle for the benefit of someone else? The ones who rape, enslave, massacre or steal the wealth of anyone who invites them to dinner that doesn't look or pray like him? This whole notion of a "Protestant work ethic" is arrogant nonsense that has no sound historical foundation....as if the non-Protestant world were/are a bunch of lazy Neanderthals who were just waiting for their Protestant masters/teachers to come along to civilize them. Seriously...do a little research on the gifts or contributions to civilization. Isn't it remarkable how few of them were given to us by these hard-working Protestants? Now do a little research on war, genocide, slavery, disease, and you will find the Protestant right there near the top. I am no Protestant basher, I just don't think that any one race, ethnic group, religion, culture, or "ism", has a monopoly on hard work ethics, intelligence, or civility.

Lol....I had to get that out of the way before going back to the OLPC issue. Every time I see or hear this phrase "Protestant work ethic" or the oxymoronic "Judaeo-Christian" it gets under my skin.

All of the points being made here have a great deal of merit. But as someone who has taught students in both America and in India, I think that learning styles and environment is an overlooked variable in this discussion. The opponents of technology in the classroom would have us go back to a model that worked extremely well for a time and place that only exists in a few cases today. Those one room schools produced some of the greatest minds of America. But as the culture changed so did learning styles.

To teach a child you first have to be able to get their attention and keep their attention. Because of cultural and environmental factors the attention span of children can vary greatly. I found that those students who were exposed to a lot of technology had much shorter attention spans than those who were not exposed to any technology. However, I also found that those who were exposed to technology in moderation had longer attention spans and displayed an eagerness to explore beyond limits of the non-technology model. When a child's exposure to this technology is limited to observation without any interactivity, they find their non-technology learning environments boring.

I agree with the research which seems to indicate that too much exposure to this technology stunts our creativity and imagination. I see the results everyday, where not only my students, but even adults have difficulty conceptualizing abstract models or problems.

Most adults can't even sit through a 60 minute documentary. Most adults don't have the attention span and cognitive ability to grasp indepth news coverage from PBS News Hour. They turn to the 2 minute news snippets of the corporate networks.

We don't operate in a non-technology world, our children don't live in a non-technology world, why should we expect them to learn in a classroom devoid of this technology?

In our after school/weekend learning centers in the DR, we intend to utilize either these XO laptops that, as a policy of OLPC, must be freely-distributed to the children, or our own in-house desktop computers. The technology will supplement traditional instruction and tactile learning. It will not substitute for it. $189 would buy books or even a personal tutor for a few lessons, but we'll take our chances with a laptop, the hundred or so free open source learning software titles that are freely available, and a teacher that is trained in how to utilize them in conjunction with traditional classroom instruction.

I'll agree to disagree with you guys and focus my energy on getting the center up and running. You'll all be invited to come and visit when the doors open!
 

windeguy

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What do you expect from 4 hours of classes each day?

Not one Latin/Central American country in that top list a performers internationally. Interesting. Not much discipline in that group of countries.

I agree that a laptop computer is totally superfluous when the educational system doesn't teach even the very basics. This country needs to get the basics down before it can add embellishments. That is not going to happen because it is not in the best interests of those in charge. Just four hours of school each day is not ever going to work.
 
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engineerfg

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Charles - Good luck with your center. And we both know, Protestants didn't build the Pyramids, it was the aliens according to L. Ron Hubbard.

I make joke.