Even if the legislation only gets Teachermates, which I agree are a pathetic excuse for a laptop, It is still a step in the right direction, and one that Illinois really should take. Also, the bill puts aside $400 dollars per laptop, so my personal belief is they won't use the Teachermates.<br>
<br>Jason<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 11:38 PM, Feihong Hsu <<a href="mailto:hsu.feihong@yahoo.com">hsu.feihong@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I don't think it's obvious that this bill would help advance the OLPC<br>
project. Check out this article on the $50 Teachermate, which will be<br>
distributed to 500 Chicago schools in the next two years:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.switched.com/2008/03/14/50-pc-will-teach-chicago-school-kids/" target="_blank">http://www.switched.com/2008/03/14/50-pc-will-teach-chicago-school-kids/</a><br>
<br>
Of course, you and I know that the Teachermate doesn't deserve to be<br>
called a laptop. For one thing, it lacks a keyboard and doesn't even<br>
have a network card. But will lawmakers be able to tell the<br>
difference? Maybe the better question is, will they care that there<br>
is a difference?<br>
<br>
Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic...<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
<br>
--- Jason Rock <<a href="mailto:jrock@imsa.edu">jrock@imsa.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> Hi,<br>
> Mel brought some fairly recent Illinois legislation to my<br>
> attention. The<br>
> legislation creates, "A low-cost laptop pilot project whereby<br>
> low-cost<br>
> laptop computers are provided to each student, teacher, and<br>
> relevant<br>
> administrator in a participating elementary school and the use of<br>
> open-source educational software and computer skills training is<br>
> implemented." If anyone wants to they can read more at<br>
><br>
<a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=5000&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=35963&SessionID=51&GA=95&SpecSess=0" target="_blank">http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=5000&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=35963&SessionID=51&GA=95&SpecSess=0</a>.<br>
> Personally I will be writing a letter to congressmen and women<br>
> asking for<br>
> their support of this bill. It would be great if you would join<br>
> me, as the<br>
> passing of this bill would obviously help advance the OLPC project.<br>
><br>
> Thanks,<br>
> Jason Rock<br>
</div></div><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">> > _______________________________________________<br>
> OLPC-Chicago mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:OLPC-Chicago@lists.laptop.org">OLPC-Chicago@lists.laptop.org</a><br>
> <a href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-chicago" target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-chicago</a><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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