oo wow in this 1 hour i been away this thread goten more and more close to a hot topic lol
anwyays, i personaly think that the families of those poor children can make much better use of $100 then a computer
in most countries where children attend schools, specialy in europe there are no problems with education
EDIT: what use is a computer to someone who first off has absoultely no use for it, what good is a computer without internet
OK they have WIFI, but only within an area of another one of those lil things, so they share info, what about the web?? not that many hotspots on earth where free internet works (take bangladesh for example)
EDIT: EDIT: Edeehem, just erad ur comment on the “non profit thing” yes they are “non profit” but they are SELLING these things to governemnts, meaning the budget is going to get even smaller then it already is, and i personaly dont belieave that they wont knock off a few bucks offa each latop they sell vbmenu_register(“postmenu_724598”, tr
I’d certainly agree that $100 could be spent in other ways that would be of benefit to the families of the children, and I can see where an argument can be made where at least some of those ways to spend the money would be better than a computer.
However, that doesn’t make the computer any less of a valuable item in the lives of these children. And it doesn’t make the project that develops this economically viable technology any less valuable or worthwhile. I maintain that there is a need for these computers, even if it comes behind other needs.
Who knows what uses they’ll come up with, until we put computers into their hands? I’m sitting here working on a computer that has maybe a thousand or more times the processing power of the computer equipment that got men to the moon; I certainly don’t have many ways to make use of this $100 laptop. But how many geniuses are born and die without ever contributing with their talents simply because of where they were born?
Maybe computers aren’t the best solution. Maybe more food is a good idea, or more doctors, or brushes and easels, or laboratory equipment, or more teachers. I don’t know what’s the best way to help people who might benefit from whatever help there is to offer. I certainly don’t think cheap computers are the only way to help people. But I really do believe that this program will make, in at least a small way, an average improvement in the world.
There are very poor places in the world, but there are some that are better.
Here in Brazil there are regions with lots of kids out of school, but there are regions that all kids, 100% go to school. The kids have school uniforms, they have pen and pencil, paper, all these things, but they might not have access to computers.
These laptops are not a US program. The university I study at has a laboratory developing software and support for it, and I have friends involved on the project.
If my city or state wants to buy computers to some kids that already have access to education, let them do that.
It’s not the ONLY way to help people but its A way and A way is better then nothing. Plus it’s government paying for those computers, not the families themselves. I’d rather seen government spending money on cheap computers to help improve their country rather then weapons and so on.
And another use for the computers: mathematics, calculator, etc.
I thing the idea of selling cheap computers is for the myriad of possible educational use. It’s like sending a teacher in a way.
and as Falk said, they are aiming for people in such situations which makes everything a bit more clear so a big thanks for the info!
I must say that I initially misunderstood the mission of the OLPC. I thought they were handing out laptops in places where laptops could really be of no use (due to the lack of basic living standards).
Hmm… I think many americans have a misconception of the current state of the world. Heh, we still think that everyone else is in the “stone age” compared to us, which is not true.
I think that, sadly, that’s all too true. It certainly is true amongst a lot of my relatives, some of whom I can barely communicate with when it comes to international affairs. They’re just woefully ignorant, and kinda proud of it. It really amazes me sometimes.
I think it’s a great idea. With the way the world is going, soon computers are going to take over and paper and pencil will be obsolete. And don’t say it will just correct the kids and not let them learn. There are software tools that don’t auto-correct. Not only that, but you can teach them good handwriting if you have a touch screen.
I think they need to make this into more powerful computers being given out. At least $200 needs to be spent per lap-top.
About the comments about cleaning up the homeless people here in America…
The homeless people here actually had a chance to get an education, but they got addicted to drugs or alcohol and dropped out. That’s the real problem with us, is that too many of us are lazy. So shut up about getting us to send these computers to poor people here, because it’s their fault they’re poor.
I also saw comments about how the government was making:
CIA assasination, anyone? US supported military coups, anyone? US supported fascist states, anyone? US trained paramilitary? List goes on and makes Saddam look like a choir boy.
Name one time that any of these happened with government support. And I mean direct government support, when the government actually paid to make this happen. I dare you to list one time that happened, and I guaranty you can’t.
Wow, you really havn’t got a clue about the real world do you?
First of all many, many homeless people suffer from crippling mental and psychiactric issues. For instance where I live many of them had to live in the state mental hospital/asylum permanently since they were so far gone they could not interact in society safely. In the 80’s the Reagan administration decided that keeping these people off the streets wasn’t important, so they were all kicked out and became homeless street wanderers. They can’t be employed anywhere because they can’t even count to ten or tell you what planet they are on. I grew up around these people, they were all over my neighborhood.
Second of all, there are plenty of highly educated people who are dirt poor, or even homeless. The middle class in America is shrinking, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. There are plenty of people who have masters degrees and even PhDs in this country who are working for just about minimum wage because they simply can’t find anything better. I personally have known quite a few people like this.
IIRC your’e too young to understand these issues, and it shows.
Wow! Tynach, are you the Republican party poster boy or what!
The unemployed or poor are lazy! The government bears no responsiblity for what its agencies do overseas!
Are taxes for rich folk and corporations too high also? After all, they earnt the money through hard work and honesty! I bet you aspire to be rich; and even if you aren’t your entire life you will vote for whoever promises these tax breaks even though you will never benefit from them.
Bit of a simplification, but I believe it demonstrates the mentality.
Heh, what do I know, I’m one of those unemployed slackers drifting along with a Masters Degree in Physics and no job (oh and £10000 in debt from my education). Guess I’m too drunk and lazy to get one…
But I live in England, so eventually I will get one. The USA is in a much worse state economically than us, so the trouble I’m having here would be so much worse if I lived there.
Saying all poor people are just lazy is the most stupid thing I have ever read. Using that “logic” it would mean that during a depression, all the people (except the really rich) suddenly become lazy. Very poor countries are then also filled with lazy people. What utter crap!
Back on the subject of the laptops. People should actually follow the links and read about the project before they post their “opinions”. These laptops are not for the average american child in school. Saying that they should make the laptops double as expensive also won’t work. The whole idea of the project is to make them as cheap as possible. It is meant for children who have no access to computers. The target group has probably never even touched a computer before.
Sorry if my post started a bit harsh. I always get angry when people from “some country” just assume everything is about them.
EDIT: A quote from the site
Introducing 2B1, the children’s laptop from One Laptop per Child—a potent learning tool created expressly for the world’s poorest children living in its most remote environments. 2B1 was designed collaboratively by experts from both academia and industry, bringing to bear both extraordinary talent and many decades of collective field experience in every aspect of this non-profit humanitarian project. The result is a unique harmony of form and function; a flexible, ultra low-cost, power-efficient, responsive, and durable machine with which nations of the emerging world can leapfrog decades of development—immediately transforming the content and quality of their children’s learning.
Most people, like already said, don’t know the reality other people live in.
There are some times people here say “because I’m poor” but is a poor people with a own house, a car, a computer, internet connection, food on the refrigerator, etc. That is not poor, that’s better than 90% of the people on Earth.
I have a better life than 90% of the people in my country, but still worse than it could be if the word was a fair place. I can afford an internet broad-band connection, most of my friends can, but most people can’t.
People imagine that OR people are starving, OR they have access to computers and internet ana have a car and things like that.
There is a LOT of people in the middle, that have food, have education, but just can’t afford a computer, never used a computer before. These computers are NOT to run Blender, or Matlab or Octave, or photoshop, Microsoft Office…
They are supposed to put people in contact with computers, learn about them, have a better chance later on.
That is a crucial point to understand. Handing computers out to kids in poor areas is a nice idea, and computers certainly are valuable learning tools, but they are also expensive and very nice for the parents to sell. Someone that lives in a shack with little food to eat is certainly not going to use the pc for the child’s education.
Speaking from an African perspective, where there certainly is all too much poverty (and crime…) I could not possibly imagine the choas that will erupt if someone has to hand out free laptops to all the children. Furthermore, most teachers here are not computer literate either.
Would it not be more practical to spend the same money on placing computers in schools and training the teachers?
Placing more computers on schools would be better.
There are a lot of schools that open on weekends so that the entire comunity can use its infraestructure, not only the children but also the parents and neighbors.
Placing computers that can be used by everyone is a much better ideia.
Giving food to a hungry child is definitely better than giving a laptop, but the money wasn’t just sitting there waiting for something to be spent on. It was collected specifically for this purpose.
The hardware companies that sponsor the laptop (eg. AMD, Google, Red Hat) probably would not have given any money if it was for food. But because it is in their field, they are more inclined to help. It also makes them look better than their competition and they might just be doing it for the PR.
What is the best choice: no food and a laptop at school, or no food and no laptop ?
Of course the 1st option is better, its just that it is impractical. The laptops wouldn’t last a day.
Edit: Unless the computers are kept at school, of course then a portable laptop would be a waste.
It may help to check out the information about the project at the OLPC web site. That isn’t really how the program is intended to work. It’s designed to help people who are too poor (individually and as an economic group) to have access to computers. The project is not targeted at people who are having trouble sustaining the basics.
The computers are too cheap to sell effectively, there’s no market for computers in the areas where they’ll be used (which is why the program exists in the first place), and they’ll be used in classrooms like textbooks are.
I think if you check into it some, you’ll find there’s a lot of work going into the project to make it useful to the most places where it can be.
