[OLPC-Chicago] laptop backlash in USA

Michael Tobis mtobis at gmail.com
Thu May 10 17:56:56 EDT 2007


Atul, good point.

You may want to consider posting your ideas on this to the python edu-sig list:

http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig

where it might get noticed.

mt

On 5/10/07, Atul Varma <varmaa at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/8/07, Scott Van Den Plas <scottv at gmail.com> wrote:
> > How can OLPC focus on educational reform and avoid comparison to simply
> placing laptops into a traditional setting?
>
> Well, I imagine it's too late to change the name of the program, but to be
> honest the very name "one laptop per child" made me laugh out loud the first
> time I heard it.  I think it's because of the connotations that the word
> "laptop" brings: it's something that, 10 years ago, was a yuppie status
> symbol, and I think that's significant.  Imagine how ridiculous a program
> like "one cell phone per child" sounds--even if you try to emphasize the
> fact a cell phone can actually be incredibly useful for communication,
> especially for societies that don't even have land-line telephones, the fact
> is that the first thing that pops into people's heads (well, my head at
> least) when they hear the word "cell phone" is a Samsung advertisement about
> some new feature-loaded monstrosity that comes with downloadable ringtones.
>
> The word "laptop" comes with almost as much negative cultural baggage as
> "cell phone".  When most people see the word "laptop", I'm guessing they
> usually think of Norton AntiVirus, Ad-Aware, Microsoft Office, porn, and
> Google.  Only one or two of those is generally regarded as a really useful
> thing.  And when the word "laptop" and "child" are put in the same sentence,
> all I can think of is MySpace and Alge-Blaster, which are things no nation
> should spend millions of dollars on.
>
> On the other hand, I *love* the term "Children's Machine", which is what the
> OLPC laptop was originally called.  A "machine" is what I had when I grew
> up: it didn't help me with school in any direct way, it didn't serve as a
> replacement for a good textbook or a great teacher, but it served an
> entirely different purpose: it was my personal little lab where I could
> create things and tinker with the things others had created.  Social
> scientists call it "Bricolage" or "Constructivism", and whatever it is, it's
> something that I wish every child in the world had some opportunity to
> experience.
>
> So the word "Children's Machine" brings back memories of what I had when I
> was growing up: it wasn't portable like a laptop, but it served many of the
> same goals, I think, that OLPC is aiming for.  So I guess my two cents to
> OLPC are: drop the word "laptop".  And especially don't call it "One Laptop
> Per Child", because that phrase alone is going to throw dozens of
> assumptions into people's heads and they're just going to laugh at you, like
> I once did.
>
> - Atul
>
>


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