From the ‘living in exciting times’ desk courtesy of Slashdot comes the following bit of exciting news.
An anonymous reader writes “DesktopLinux.com is reporting that four countries have together ordered 4 million low-cost, Linux-based laptops from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. The countries of Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand have each placed the 1 million unit orders.”
Interestingly, India opted out, something to do with the idea that the money could be better spent elsewhere. They might have a point – it’s certainly the case here that access to computer technology in schools only correlates with better learning when teachers can find something useful to do with the computers. Often, they’re more of a distraction. I’d like to see these machines transform education in the third world, but I do have my doubts.
Yes, the slogan one laptop per child doesn’t exactly turn me on, but so long as it’s done well, you’d hope that widespread availability of cheap computers might be a pretty good thing. Oddly, I think one could argue that they might be more useful if they’re windows – at least for a while so they maximise ease of use. And maybe Microsoft could see the sense in much lower licence prices, which could be then subsidised to nothing by the Bill and Melinda (and Warren) foundation. Anyway, good things will happen if no-one does anything too stupid.
If they are internet-connected, somehow, the example of mobile phones suggest that education will be the least of their benefits. I like the idea, in general, of giving people fishing rods not fish, and I think this is an example of that.