MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT “ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD” PROGRAM

Published Feb. 15, 2007 in "The Oklahoma Daily"
Viewable Online Here

Starting this week, the famed “One Laptop per Child” project will start sending its first batch of ultra-inexpensive laptops to several poor nations around the globe. This groundbreaking project seeks to revolutionize education in developing countries by distributing durable, kid-friendly laptop computers to impoverished schoolchildren. The cornerstone of this program is the revolutionary $150 laptop.

The project is the brainchild of a group of professors at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their vision is to reach 150 million of the neediest children of the world by 2010. By then, according to Reuters news agency, the price of the laptop is expected to fall below $100.

That price is a mere fraction of those of even basic consumer models sold in the United States.

The innovative technology inside the MIT laptops, however, belies the cheap price. They boast Linux open-source operating systems, hand-cranked battery chargers, multilingual keyboards and displays that can switch between color and monochrome. They also are equipped with wireless connectivity, pen-input capability and built-in video cameras.

The idea behind the project is for schoolchildren in developing countries to bridge the digital divide and use these computers to read e-books, shoot videos and otherwise exploit the power of the computer. Several nations are already slated to host pilot programs with this visionary idea before full-scale introduction in developing nations around the globe.

On the surface, this seems like a great idea.

A group of learned people from a very wealthy and computer-savvy country are using their knowledge and industrial might to help the children of poor nations enter the world of computers. Supplying quality machines appears to be a worthy effort to help those in need

The problem, however, lies not in the computers themselves, but in the manner in which they are to be implemented. In fact, that exact manner is vague at best. The laptops are designed to be used to perform a host of electronic educational tasks — making videos, researching on the Internet, etc. — that are commonplace in most any American school.

But the true strength of the American school system does not lie in its advanced use of technology. No, the true strength of our school system lies in things decidedly more low-tech.

It lies in didactic elements like trained teachers, solid school buildings, surplus school supplies and books.

As shocking as it is, most of the children who are slated to receive the laptops in question are lacking much of the above in their schooling. Virtually every nation on the list to participate in this program has a shortage of trained teachers.

Many of these countries' school buildings are decrepit, if existent at all. In some cases, there are not even books for these children.

The shortage of these very basic educational necessities is something no single piece of technology can overcome.

Therefore, these laptops become little more than toys for children who would still need a good education.

And expensive toys, at that.

It is estimated by the “Room to Read” charitable organization that a school serving 500 pupils can be built and maintained for only $25 per child. A library that can serve 400 children can be had for only $5 per child. That library can bring a large number of local-language texts for the benefit of its patrons. Given this, $150 for one laptop for only one child does not seem like such a sound investment.

All the more so because the concept is unproven. It took schools in the developed countries the better part of three decades to integrate technology with a well-established curriculum and stable school system.

The laptop project is trying to force that same integration almost overnight in areas where even school buildings may not exist, let alone curricula and supplies.

That's a pretty big risk.

But, like any big risk, it has the potential to be a runaway success — a true global revolution in educational technology. If successful, this project and its patrons will be bona fide heroes for underprivileged children everywhere. Children all across the world would have new educational doors opened to them and would benefit from technology like never before. The digital divide will have been spanned by some pretty big bridges.
It also has the potential, however, to fail miserably. The educational goals of the project may well never be met.

The thousands of laptops may end up being sold on the black market and gutted for parts for who knows what kind of device. It may very well leave the project in shambles and its patrons with no credibility. Poor nations already struggling with debt will be left reeling from millions of dollars of new debt, all from an essentially fruitless venture.

Still, the prize is too significant to not at least try this project out. To end it at its current state would be doing a great disservice. I say keep with it and hope for the first scenario.

Just don't be too surprised if the second scenario results instead.