http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/ Engadget Comments for NickNeg signs up Libya for 1.2 million 2B1 laptops http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
It is insane that Libya is taking more aggressive steps towards computer literacy than we are. Think of the benefits for teachers, Automatically generated and graded math tests, teaching programming (logic, math, interactivity) in second grade, one computer instead of 15 books to haul around, ability to tailor curriculums to different modalities of learning, ability to update textbooks instantly, open source (cheap) textbooks...]]>Oct 11th 2006 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
Last time a checked, a textbook never ran out of battery, or crashed, or became disabled due to malware or a virus... or failed to be usable because water got spilled on it, or couldn't connect to the internet, or ran out of hard disk space... and textbooks never distracted kids with video games, instant messaging and webcams.

For 500 years now books have worked pretty well. Not sure why we suddenly think that computers can solve the woes of countries like Libya. They certainly can't solve the woes of our own country. In the US, we've had "home computers" now for about oh, 20 years - and last time I checked, schoolkids here in the US aren't doing as well as kids in countries that typically have never had computers (China, Singapore, etc).

If you want kids in the US to do better in school, I'd say to remove computers entirely. Replace them with typewriters. They can keep their calcuators, although they still need to memorize their "times tables".

-early

-early]]>Oct 11th 2006 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 10:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
Negroponte knows a lot about making a sub $200 computer, but knows NOTHING on how to make a third-world country into a first-world country. Technology is not a panacea to end despotism and famine. Name one third-world country that is impoverished because of just bad luck rather than from a corrupt government that steals, bullies and kills their citizens and I'll shut up.

]]>Oct 11th 2006 12:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
On the bright side, maybe I can pick one up cheap on eBay.]]>Oct 11th 2006 4:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/I agree that these countries are struggling to afford food and water, but education is really one of many things that NEEDS to happen in order to help increase the level of production in the country and hence lower the number of people living in extreme poverty.
If you want an example of where teaching computers to your people works, look at India and the IT revolution it's having right now.
If you want more examples of non-corrupt third world governments, read "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey D. Sachs. His work is amazing and a must read for anyone interested in this.]]>Oct 11th 2006 5:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 1:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
Headline news.... World terrorist play massive Counter strike game to train against Anti terroist.]]>Oct 11th 2006 1:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
Give a boy a laptop and he will use it to play roms.]]>Oct 11th 2006 1:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 1:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 2:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 3:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 11th 2006 5:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/
Here's a guess: http://www.olpcnews.com/content/education/o_is_for_oversight.html

.]]>Oct 11th 2006 6:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/11/nickneg-signs-up-libya-for-1-2-million-2b1-laptops/Oct 12th 2006 10:28AM