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The reality is that many children in Asia, especially India, don't have access to a computer at home. Only children in relatively wealthy families have access t

by mataug 9y ago

The reality is that many children in Asia, especially India, don't have access to a computer at home. Only children in relatively wealthy families have access to a computer at home. This means that having a hackathon isn't really feasible as the students would struggle with even the basic requirement of having a computer to learn the skills necessary to take part in a hackathon.

dheera 9y ago
This is an issue, but there are also many schools that have computers. Schools should make them available to students for learning and fun outside of class hours. Although I had a computer at home I did a lot of my learning at school because there was a faster internet connection there, and I could often use multiple computers and multiple screens. At my middle school I regularly stayed at school from the end of class around 2:30pm until 5:30pm or so. It was in those hours that I learned a lot of coding (I built a distributed search engine), web programming (I built a website for the school), network administration (the school needed help administering student e-mail accounts and I wrote various scripts to speed up the process) and so on. I also assembled a computer from scrap parts from other non-working school computers at one point. I wasn't the only one doing these things at that school, either. When it comes to technology it should be the goal of the school to have students teach the teacher.
bluGill 9y ago
People don't understand how expensive computers are to most people. My in-laws took me to visit a family in Mexico, (My in-laws live 5 miles from the boarder) seeing real people off the tourist track is and in their home is an eye opener. Their tiny houses look "quaint" at a distance, but seeing them live in them is different. It was sleeting that day, so they were inside their house with all their blankets on, the one heater wasn't making much a dent in the cold despite all the guests crowded into a room that barely could hold the table. When we went back home they had to sleep in that house: all 5 of them in the one bedroom. I'm told their income is $45/week, the couple is each working, so figure $90/week. From that they have to make their house payment, buy clothing, food and everything else. Since an American was visiting they were showing off: they probably spent more than a weeks income on just that one meal I ate. (they are too proud to take cash, but we find other ways to pay them back) A raspberry pi is only $35, but that is more than 1/3rd of their weekly income. It still isn't a useful computer though, you need quite a few more accessories that are not common in poor homes.
- dheera 9y ago
  Sure, there are places that are actually poor. You have a point there. I'm talking less about those and more about the places which are actually reasonably affluent enough for the school to have a few computers yet have this traditional education system that is only focused on spitting facts and disciplining students rather than educating them to be thinkers and leaders.
  - yorwba 9y ago
    TFA seems to imply that "reading out the textbooks" happens because the school doesn't have computers, so theory is all they can teach.
  - bluGill 9y ago
    The article was about India, where at least some people are that poor.
- flukus 9y ago
  > A raspberry pi is only $35, but that is more than 1/3rd of their weekly income. It still isn't a useful computer though, you need quite a few more accessories that are not common in poor homes. That is incredibly cheap. When my dad bought our first home computer it was 3 or 4 times his weekly income. The bigger question is how much of their $90 is discretionary? If they have $5 a week spare then a raspberry pi is affordable.
- fellellor 9y ago
  This is Mexico you are talking about. A country with a per capita income of 9700 Nominal USD. India's per capita income is 1800 Nominal USD. So you can imagine the difficulty involved in training oneself for the imminent new world which is going to be shook up by automation. The rich keep making money hand over fist because they can afford to invest in this future while the only thing left for the poor is either a quiet handout, or a life of crime and insurgency.

by mataug 9y ago

dheera 9y ago

This is an issue, but there are also many schools that have computers. Schools should make them available to students for learning and fun outside of class hours. Although I had a computer at home I did a lot of my learning at school because there was a faster internet connection there, and I could often use multiple computers and multiple screens. At my middle school I regularly stayed at school from the end of class around 2:30pm until 5:30pm or so. It was in those hours that I learned a lot of coding (I built a distributed search engine), web programming (I built a website for the school), network administration (the school needed help administering student e-mail accounts and I wrote various scripts to speed up the process) and so on. I also assembled a computer from scrap parts from other non-working school computers at one point. I wasn't the only one doing these things at that school, either. When it comes to technology it should be the goal of the school to have students teach the teacher.

bluGill 9y ago

People don't understand how expensive computers are to most people. My in-laws took me to visit a family in Mexico, (My in-laws live 5 miles from the boarder) seeing real people off the tourist track is and in their home is an eye opener. Their tiny houses look "quaint" at a distance, but seeing them live in them is different. It was sleeting that day, so they were inside their house with all their blankets on, the one heater wasn't making much a dent in the cold despite all the guests crowded into a room that barely could hold the table. When we went back home they had to sleep in that house: all 5 of them in the one bedroom. I'm told their income is $45/week, the couple is each working, so figure $90/week. From that they have to make their house payment, buy clothing, food and everything else. Since an American was visiting they were showing off: they probably spent more than a weeks income on just that one meal I ate. (they are too proud to take cash, but we find other ways to pay them back) A raspberry pi is only $35, but that is more than 1/3rd of their weekly income. It still isn't a useful computer though, you need quite a few more accessories that are not common in poor homes.

dheera 9y ago
Sure, there are places that are actually poor. You have a point there. I'm talking less about those and more about the places which are actually reasonably affluent enough for the school to have a few computers yet have this traditional education system that is only focused on spitting facts and disciplining students rather than educating them to be thinkers and leaders.
- yorwba 9y ago
  TFA seems to imply that "reading out the textbooks" happens because the school doesn't have computers, so theory is all they can teach.
- bluGill 9y ago
  The article was about India, where at least some people are that poor.
flukus 9y ago
> A raspberry pi is only $35, but that is more than 1/3rd of their weekly income. It still isn't a useful computer though, you need quite a few more accessories that are not common in poor homes. That is incredibly cheap. When my dad bought our first home computer it was 3 or 4 times his weekly income. The bigger question is how much of their $90 is discretionary? If they have $5 a week spare then a raspberry pi is affordable.
fellellor 9y ago
This is Mexico you are talking about. A country with a per capita income of 9700 Nominal USD. India's per capita income is 1800 Nominal USD. So you can imagine the difficulty involved in training oneself for the imminent new world which is going to be shook up by automation. The rich keep making money hand over fist because they can afford to invest in this future while the only thing left for the poor is either a quiet handout, or a life of crime and insurgency.