Re: [Marxism] One Laptop per Child

[Craig Brozefsky <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Sayan Bhattacharyya" <ok.president+marxmail@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

> On 6/12/07, Jesse Jack <jjack99645@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > Doesn't it seem kind of backward for a person to own a car and not own a
> > home? Now we're trying to go to Africa and tell people who don't have
> > running water that they need computers and e-mail.
> 
> It's not that *everyone* in each village needs computers and email,
> but a community computer and email (which everyone can use) can
> definitely be very useful.

But, OLPC is called One Laptop Per Child on on purpose, as each child
having a laptop is a key component of their pedagogical approach.  A
similiar project was deployed in the state of Maine, with Seymour
Papert as it's primary advisor.  Each kid got an iBook.  Maine is a
relatively poor state, and the project had to overcome similiar
resistance to spending money on computers for school instead of other
projects and teachers.

Obviously a students approach to a shared computer, like the ones I
had in school which were in the writing labs and a distinct computer
lab earlier, is different from one that they can call their own and
take full posession of.  They have way more time for unstructured, or
unguided, use of the machine.  That is a very fertile ground for
learning and developing fluency in symbolic manipulation.

-- 
Sincerely, Craig Brozefsky              <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
what a klon  - neko           http://www.red-bean.com/~craig
Less matter, more form!                       - Bruno Schulz
ignazz, I am truly korrupted by yore sinful tzourceware. -jb

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