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I'm from Argentina as well and I believe this attitude is exactly what's wrong when people critiqued this program. Yes, we _know_ it's not going to fix a flawe

I'm from Argentina as well and I believe this attitude is exactly what's wrong when people critiqued this program. Yes, we _know_ it's not going to fix a flawed education system. There's not a person in this entire country who has ever believed otherwise, and using it as a critique of the program has been nothing but a strawman. We live a in a world where everything is done online. If the only objective this achieved is that kids are now familiar with a computer without having learned anything else, it's still fantastically successful. They know how to load a spreadsheet. They know basic UI paradigms that allow them to navigate crappy government or banking web pages. They come of age using social networks that they will be able to leverage for work and productive connections in the future. The issue of connectivity is related but ultimately a distraction too, as a single poor wi-fi or 3G connection is still good for watching low-quality Youtube videos or reading tutorials. It's a middle-of-the-road country with inadequate distribution of services. The resources devoted to this program can't be put to infrastructure. And imperfectly devised program where teachers can't use computers doesn't change the fact that computers are so damn useful that you don't depend on a teacher to learn how to use it, especially with naturally resourceful children.

sdfin 5y ago
I'm also from Argentina, and about 6 years ago I worked in a public school. I think giving computers to children is good only if the quality of education they receive is good. I saw many children using their government-given computers to play GTA san andreas and Counter Strike while they were in the middle of a class, and the teachers didn't do anything about it because the government forbids them to take reasonable disciplinary measures (A teacher wants a child to pay attention during a class? Good luck, there's not much he/she can do) and also the goverments forces the teachers to make everyone pass every exam because "it is stigmatizing" for the children to get a bad mark on a test. What I comment sounds absurd, but I have no reason to lie about it. So, even if I consider it can be benefical to give computers to students in some conditions, in Argentina it's not well implemented.
- Daishiman 5y ago
  > I think giving computers to children is good only if the quality of education they receive is good. This is 100% false. A computer allows them to watch YouTube and see tutorials on everything they may want to learn. It _forces_ them to learn to how read and read quickly to digest all the information they get on social networks. It allows them to know that there are such things as spreadsheets and document editors. This is so much more important than many classes that it can't be understated how critical this is. If these children instead had to go to private computer literacy classes when they turn 21 because they need to write a CV or access a government website, they will have wasted away a ton of potential. All the children mentioned in the article did not have a good education, but they had a tool that enabled them to make do without it.
  - sdfin 5y ago
    Yes, I agree, there are many advantages. Still I saw various high school level children who were able to get a torrent and launch GTA San Andreas in their computers, but at the same time they were unable to read in a fluent way and of comprehending texts. I mean, autonomous children, and children with certain interests can learn a lot just by having a computers, while others won't learn much. But still, the exposure to a computer is helfpul for all of them. I was too extreme in what I expressed. Both having computers and good education are positives.
    - StavrosK 5y ago
      Sure, but it's worth wasting 99 laptops if even we manage to enable one child to get a better education, and that's even before considering that the other 99 laptops are probably not going to be wasted either.
      - is_true 5y ago
        The problem is more than half of the children live in poverty. Maybe making sure they can eat is a better first step.

sdfin 5y ago

I'm also from Argentina, and about 6 years ago I worked in a public school. I think giving computers to children is good only if the quality of education they receive is good. I saw many children using their government-given computers to play GTA san andreas and Counter Strike while they were in the middle of a class, and the teachers didn't do anything about it because the government forbids them to take reasonable disciplinary measures (A teacher wants a child to pay attention during a class? Good luck, there's not much he/she can do) and also the goverments forces the teachers to make everyone pass every exam because "it is stigmatizing" for the children to get a bad mark on a test. What I comment sounds absurd, but I have no reason to lie about it. So, even if I consider it can be benefical to give computers to students in some conditions, in Argentina it's not well implemented.

Daishiman 5y ago
> I think giving computers to children is good only if the quality of education they receive is good. This is 100% false. A computer allows them to watch YouTube and see tutorials on everything they may want to learn. It _forces_ them to learn to how read and read quickly to digest all the information they get on social networks. It allows them to know that there are such things as spreadsheets and document editors. This is so much more important than many classes that it can't be understated how critical this is. If these children instead had to go to private computer literacy classes when they turn 21 because they need to write a CV or access a government website, they will have wasted away a ton of potential. All the children mentioned in the article did not have a good education, but they had a tool that enabled them to make do without it.
- sdfin 5y ago
  Yes, I agree, there are many advantages. Still I saw various high school level children who were able to get a torrent and launch GTA San Andreas in their computers, but at the same time they were unable to read in a fluent way and of comprehending texts. I mean, autonomous children, and children with certain interests can learn a lot just by having a computers, while others won't learn much. But still, the exposure to a computer is helfpul for all of them. I was too extreme in what I expressed. Both having computers and good education are positives.
  - StavrosK 5y ago
    Sure, but it's worth wasting 99 laptops if even we manage to enable one child to get a better education, and that's even before considering that the other 99 laptops are probably not going to be wasted either.
    - is_true 5y ago
      The problem is more than half of the children live in poverty. Maybe making sure they can eat is a better first step.