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OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world

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235 points ChrisArchitect | 5 comments | 16 Apr 18 14:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.836s | source
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dingo_bat ◴[16 Apr 18 16:05 UTC] No.16849980[source]▶
The real reason why OLPC failed is that children in downtrodden countries don't need a laptop. They need food, a healthy environment, good old fashioned classroom education and plenty of pens and notebooks. A laptop is the worst tool you can use for studying.

I went through my entire school and undergraduate college without once bringing my laptop into the classroom. My mother and father learned to program in FORTRAN using nothing but pen, paper and the occasional slide rule.

Paper books, decent sized notebooks and ballpoint pens. Spend $100 on that. That will actually help. This whole project was solving a first world problem in the third world.

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lev99 ◴[16 Apr 18 16:40 UTC] No.16850366[source]▶
> A laptop is the worst tool you can use for studying.

A laptop is a great tool for studying. Word Processing makes editing papers much easier than the old markup and rewrite method. The web makes researching topics and cross referencing documents much easier. Nothing beats actually running code for learning how to program.

If I was going to spend $100/yr on educational supplies for a student I wouldn't spend it on a laptop. Pencils, notebooks, and textbooks are more important. If I was going to spend $1000/yr on educational supplies for a student I 100% would include a computer.

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hfdgiutdryg ◴[16 Apr 18 17:16 UTC] No.16850752[source]▶
Technology is a distraction in the classroom. I regret even the minimal presence of technology when I was in school, aside from computer science 'lab' work.
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epmaybe ◴[16 Apr 18 17:29 UTC] No.16850886[source]▶
I don't agree with this sentiment. Semantics aside (pens and paper are considered technology whether you like it or not), technology is what you make of it. If you can apply said technology to be more productive in class, then allow yourself to take full advantage of that. If you personally know you're going to spend most of that time in the classroom going on Facebook or Twitter, then you should have the self-control to not bring your laptop to class.

I'm someone who gets distracted very easily, so my compromise was blocking websites that caused distractions during class so that I could focus on annotating class powerpoints rapidly.

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1. hfdgiutdryg ◴[16 Apr 18 17:38 UTC] No.16850970[source]▶
I don't agree with this sentiment

Okay. Google study technology interferes with learning and do some reading.

If you personally know you're going to spend most of that time in the classroom going on Facebook or Twitter, then you should have the self-control to not bring your laptop to class.

And everyone should have self control, optimal intelligence, etc. But that's not how the world works.

As for Facebook and Twitter, how about the 20 minutes spent in every trig class making sure that everyone's TI-82 was set to radians and not degrees, and running around the class addressing errors caused by typos? That's time that could be better spent on classic analysis. What about the complete rabbit's hole that is Wikipedia?

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2. epmaybe ◴[16 Apr 18 17:46 UTC] No.16851053[source]▶
I agree that for the vast majority of kids out there, study technology interferes with learning. I originally thought we were talking about college education rather than primary/secondary education, which was my mistake.

So is it possible to make education better with technology? Maybe not with laptops, but with other tools (smart boards, perhaps?). Has any evidence shown that it makes learning better?

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3. dingo_bat ◴[16 Apr 18 18:02 UTC] No.16851215[source]▶
Of course technology can make learning better. I'm pretty sure smart boards would help your average American classroom. But the target for OLPC was Africa, where the classroom itself may not exist. If there is a classroom, maybe there isn't a simple black board. If that's there, maybe the students don't have stationery. Maybe they have to share a book between 50 students.

In this context, a laptop is as useless as a paper weight. They need basic stuff like books, pens, decent lunches, desks to write on etc.

I'm sorry but having your "heart in the right place" doesn't cut it. They wasted money on useless crap that could have been spent on far more useful stuff.

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4. hfdgiutdryg ◴[17 Apr 18 16:41 UTC] No.16859954[source]▶
I agree that for the vast majority of kids out there, study technology interferes with learning. I originally thought we were talking about college education rather than primary/secondary education, which was my mistake.

I'm talking about all of it. Learning traditional mathematic analysis techniques creates a far deeper understanding than just plonking a formula into a program to look at a graph.

"Smart boards" don't do anything, except perhaps allow distribution of what's drawn on the whiteboard. I worked for a "smart board" company. They're neat for managerial presentations and a complete boondoggle for education.

Technology is pushed into education because it makes deans, principals, and superintendents look good on their resume. But the actual outcomes are worse for everyone else.

5. bluGill ◴[17 Apr 18 19:12 UTC] No.16861365{3}[source]▶
There are specific needs that need to be met first. A kid who lacks the basics will not get anything from education. However most kids have the basics, the question is how to get them more.

To my mind OLPC is a success if .01% of the kids who get one learn something important. That OLPC can make thousands of books available is useful: it lets the kid who digs in learn something that their village needs has never done before.