Comments on: Intel – One Laptop Per Child partnership failed in Peru

By: Stuart Starrs

Stuart Starrs — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:08:55 +0000

Hi Julio.
I’ve heard good things about the project too, which will go ahead as normal. Peru rejected the advances of Intel to scrap the project and buy the more expensive Intel-Windows machines.
All that will happen now is that these computers will be soley AMD-based and Intel and Microsoft will be more open about their attempts to convince the third world to pay more for more costly-to-run computers with expensive software.

What is your site?

By: Julio

Julio — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:08:45 +0000

I read this story a couple months ago and thought all was going wellI’m still not too clear on what happened.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/24/196240&from=rss

Great blog by the way I have it linked on my site if you don’t mind.

By: Alan Malarkey

Alan Malarkey — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:08:15 +0000

I agree a balanced approach. Check out the BBC digital planet podcast for some info on the one laptop project. Calendar arrived today, great thanks,

Alan

By: Stuart Starrs

Stuart Starrs — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:07:21 +0000

You’re very right, about the gimick and the need of better teachers rather than laptops. But then there are those small towns away from the big cities some resources and where the kids don’t go out at night to sell sweets where the teachers aren’t too terrible and something like this would be a good resource. In the better of the state schools this would work – but maybe the money should be spent on the worst of the state schools instead.

By: Alan Malarkey

Alan Malarkey — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:06:58 +0000

While in Perú i did notice the debate on one laptop per child. I kind of had the feeling that it was an AG gimick and maybe designed to create a huge purchase order with some governmental gain.
Running at about the same time were stories abut Perú being bottom of the pile of the educational attainment ladder and I heard quite a lot about militancy among the teaching workforce.
Working for just one month in a voluntary education project, seeing the lack of basic resources in one local school, seeing the number of children out on the streets at night selling chewing gum and finger puppets and realising that there are many children who do not receive a basic entitlement to education led me to believe that laptops are a bit of a diversion from the reality of the situation. Of course children can learn from computers but are the teachers trained ready and willing and can all the children manage handwriting, reading and number to a reasonable level?

By: » Software Libre …en Perú - Travel Culture History News

» Software Libre …en Perú - Travel Culture History News — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:51:39 +0000

[…] highly-trained in open source technologies might lead to Peru’s institutions rejecting hard-sold and expensive lock-in agreements with companies such as Microsoft when the same software, often of […]