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The problem is not with the OLPC, as said in the article it's problems with Peruvian education. And maybe it would have been wiser $225m on better teachers than
by calibwam 15y ago
The problem is not with the OLPC, as said in the article it's problems with Peruvian education. And maybe it would have been wiser $225m on better teachers than giving the children a laptop. I really like the OLPC program, but there are skills that are more important to learn than computers.
- mapleoin 15y agoI think one of the goals of the OLPC project is to make those skills easier to learn by using a computer, rather than having the computer as a goal itself. That's why so much time has been spent on creating an entirely different desktop paradigm than we are used to for example. The whole UI is designed to make it easy for children to interact with, not to teach them computers. That's one of the reasons/benefits for not having Windows pre-installed on the devices. That being said, I know/have heard a lot more about the OLPC operating system itself than the OLPC's proposed courses. I think this is the big problem. The OLPC project should have focused from the start on not only creating and disseminating these devices, but also on developing a curricula to go with them.
- greendrink 15y agoIs there research on whether paying teachers in a given country more makes them more effective?
- calibwam 15y agoI don't mean paying more, as I have no reason to say that it will make them more effective. But using money on teachers can be anything from education to the environment the teachers have to teach in.