Because you can’t eat a laptop…
I’m always hesitant to criticize a charity, because 1) it’s the thought that counts, and 2) I try really hard not to be an asshole if I can help it.
But…
I really can’t get behind the One Laptop Per Child initiative.
I just think that people in developing nations have needs that are lot more basic than the need to surf teh internets.
The project head responds to that criticism: “People say if a child is malnourished, he doesn’t have drinking water, he’s sick, why do you want to give him a laptop? Substitute the word education for laptop and you’ll never ask that question again.”
OK. So the child will be educated, but still sick and hungry?
While computers should certainly be a part of any modern education, a computer does not automatically equal education (or health, for that matter). Trust me, I know plenty of morons who can operate a computer.
Of course, I also know plenty who can’t…
Exactly. Spending the resources to develop a laptop for a kid who is short on food and water is like throwing a laptop into the ocean to save a kid who might drown. Sure, it can’t hurt, but there are a lot more productive things you might have done.
I have to agree also. I could see this program being much more valuable to poor and low income kids in major metro cities (to start) who would receive more educational value from having a laptop. In a third world country $100 per child would go much further and do much more good if put towards proper food, medicine and care.