1.2 Million Libyan Kids With Laptops
(via David Weinberger) Libya has become the fourth country to make a sizeable order of the $100 laptop to the tune of $250 million. Interesting vision here:
It is possible that Libya will be the first nation in the world to connect all of its children to the Web via computers provided by schools, Negroponte said, according to the Times. In addition to the 1.2 million laptops Libya will receive, its $250 million buys it a server for each school, a crew to get the systems up and running, satellite Web service and additional hardware, the Times reports.
Two observations: First, I love David’s take on what this means:
1. OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) has more revenue to do good things with.
2. A generation of Libyan kids maybe will become computer literate.
3. A computer literate, networked generation will further integrate Libya into the life of nations, AKA peace
4. We have 1.2 million more potential Linux hackers.
5. Since Wikipedia comes loaded on the laptops, now we see what happens when 1.2 million Libyan kids decide to spend the afternoon editing.
Second, I would ask what does it say about our commitment to our children in this country if we are not the first to connect all of its children to the Internet? I’m serious. It is, I think, a moral imperative at this point, yet no one I have heard of has even squeaked about it as a campaign issue.
technorati tags:education, laptops, Libya
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Could it be because we are too busy thinking we are already better than everyone else and just too dumb/blind to see it? Politicians are lucky enough to live in a country where the press and extremist conservatives are yelling that taxes are too high and the government spends too much money (you know, on unneeded things like children’s health care, food for the poor, education, etc). If they stood on a national podium and declared a laptop for every backpack, it would be to their demise.
Now understand, I am with you on this. I think there should be a wireless cloud covering every square inch of our great country. But it is going to have to be private enterprises that need the skilled employees down the road that think forward like this. Do not count on Washington (or Austin in my case even).
Why is 1.2 million Linux hackers a good thing? Linux is an old fashioned OS with one of the worst UIs of any of the more than 12 operating systems I have used in my career. I just don’t get it. 35 years of using computers and more than a dozen operating systems in my background and I still don’t understand why someone with a choice would choose Linux.
I agree with you about the shame that we don’t have 100% of US students on the Internet though.
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A lesson we have learned on the Khanya project (South Africa) in providing computing power to learners, is that the task to empower the educators to use the technology and give guidance to learners is massive. A concern with the Libyan situation is that there are no plans to assist the educators (who are, by and large, computer illiterate). For lessons we have learned in the African context, see http://www.khanya.co.za/blogs
$100 Laptop…
Not really sure what I think about this from Will Richardson … Interesting points though! 1.2 Million Libyan Kids With Laptops By Will Richardson on The Shifts (via David Weinberger) Libya has become the fourth country to make a sizeable……
In your second point, are you suggesting we participate in the OLPC program? I thought Negroponte made it pretty cleaer that that politics of the nation, i.e. state boards, school boards, feds, of this country don’t allow a program like this to thrive here. I also remember Negroponte saying that this wasn’t the laptop for this country.
I don’t think you are saying we participate in OLPC, but just want to make sure.
Mitt Romney, our governor, had pledged $54 million to outfit all midde and high school students in Massachusetts via OLPC.
If you looked carefully at the map of the “waves” of distribution that Negroponte showed at NECC, Massachusetts was the only state in the same wave as all of the countries that have now pledged to purchase. We will wait and see what transpires….
Jim…To be honest, I really don’t care what program makes it happen. We just have to make it happen. Kobu is absolutely right, though, about making sure that the teachers can teach with the technology, or these computers will be used as night lights which someone else alluded to on some other blog. This is a huge project requiring leadership and vision at many different levels, but I think it’s among the most important educational reforms we need to be thinking about in this country.
Will, Unfortunately, I don’t think the policy makers in this country get it. Did you see the Fischbowl’s “Did You Know?” Remember what it says about England? In case somebody didn’t see it, here’s the link: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2006/08/did-you-know.html I guess it’s up to us to make sure that policymakers get it before it’s too late.
Andrew Pass
http://www.Pass-Ed.com/blogger.html
As a former tech coordinator and now the Principal of a K-4 school, I can not agree more. The most recent edutopia magazine had an article titled The New Face of Learning. Our young students are growing up in a technological world that makes non-authentic education seem absurd. It is indeed the biggest challenge for educational leaders and there are many obstacles. Sometime the obstacles come from the most unexpected constituencies. I’m not sure if public education will ever make the move to a reform that is so profound. Will we need private schools or magnet schools to do it?
I find the oblique criticisms of Lybia’s $100 computer project disheartening. Consider: (a) The USA (telephone and cable) have fallen behind Europe, Japan … in supplying high-speed broadband Internet connection to the masses. (b) As USA public education students progress through school, they score lower and lower on standardized assessments, compared to their international counterparts. I, for one, applaud any effort to educate all the children (male and female) of the world!