You know what I don't understand? All these countries (some of them third world) are buying laptops for their schoolchildren by the thousands, yet here in the United States our government can't even afford them.
Na, they can totally afford them but the States have different priorities, like for example putting all their budget in bombing the crap out of third world nations. War's what makes the world turn round in GWB's head.
Your an idiot, nearly all the countries that are buying these computers for their children are years behind the technology that most Americans have today. If they dont have a computer at home nearly everyone in this country can gain access to one in some way or another. This includes public libraries, public schools (both of which are normally free to use), as well as computer centers where you have to pay a minimal fee to access the internet. Buying these PCs in mass for our children in this country would just be a waste of money and effort especially since they would be largely incompatible with the dominant windows operating system as well as Apple OSX. That being said i think it is amazing that Negroponte is bringing children around the world into the internet age that Americans often seem to take for granted.
And if you are the type to argue maybe the following image will help you to understand ....
If US schools want to blow all their taxpayer sourced funds on multimillion dollar football fields, instead of buying their students actually useful pieces of hardware, that's fine with me.
I never did understand why sport seemed more important that education/educational tools in American schools...
Before you guys beat me down with that one I'm a foreign student studying in the US. I've heard teachers say,'its sad a student has to come into school and use energy when they're ill, when they could stay at home and be ready for their sports event after-school.'
You must not be familiar with American Public School. Sports programs are not permitted to use government funding. Any and all sports fields are financed by (1) money collected by Booster Clubs, (2) the members of the team, (3) ticket sales, (4) local and major businesses, and MAYBE—if they are ever so sweet in asking—city contributions not from federal taxes.
And if you don't think that 1, 2, and 3 could possibly make enough to fund the program, think about this: professional football teams make upwards of $100 million per annum after player compensation. Now divide that by 5 (assuming Pros charge $50 and High Schools charge $10), then divide by 14 (assuming a sold-out stadium of 70,000 and a modestly attended game of 5,000), multiply by 10/16 (number of games). Just from ticket sales, the football program alone would make over $890k every year. That's not even counting endorsements and booster club donations. And even if they made a quarter of that $890k, they could pay off the field and maintenance costs in less than 5 years.
P.S. Most schools are open for more than 5 years.
P.P.S My High School school sucked at football, but 3 years after opening they could afford a $100k Big Screen from endorsements alone.
The problem with your usage of the Wikipedia image to prove your point is that it is based on population. Look at China and Korea for example. Using your argument, we would assume that Korea is "years behind" China's technology. And it would also appear that the Netherland's technology would be "years behind" India's.
I'm not saying that I don't agree with most of your points, but using that image to prove your point is fundamentally flawed and downright silly, not to mention that it doesn't help your argument one iota.
I think the OLPC group isn't big enough to roll it out world wide all at once. They'll roll the project out in third world countries first - those folks will benefit a lot from it....
Also - how do you think the powers that be will react to the OLPC moving in on their turf here in the united states? They'll welcome the OLPC with open arms, won't they! You believe that, and I'll sell you a bridge in Brooklyn...
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You know what I don't understand? All these countries (some of them third world) are buying laptops for their schoolchildren by the thousands, yet here in the United States our government can't even afford them.
yyeeeahh those countries aren't $9 trillion in debt....
Na, they can totally afford them but the States have different priorities, like for example putting all their budget in bombing the crap out of third world nations. War's what makes the world turn round in GWB's head.
Could be that the majority of people in America are already fortunate enough to have a computer at home and/or at school.
God Bless the USA.
Your an idiot, nearly all the countries that are buying these computers for their children are years behind the technology that most Americans have today. If they dont have a computer at home nearly everyone in this country can gain access to one in some way or another. This includes public libraries, public schools (both of which are normally free to use), as well as computer centers where you have to pay a minimal fee to access the internet. Buying these PCs in mass for our children in this country would just be a waste of money and effort especially since they would be largely incompatible with the dominant windows operating system as well as Apple OSX. That being said i think it is amazing that Negroponte is bringing children around the world into the internet age that Americans often seem to take for granted.
And if you are the type to argue maybe the following image will help you to understand ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:GM_-_Countries_by_Internet_Users.png
@ Matt O
"Your an idiot"
Oh man, thats classic!
If US schools want to blow all their taxpayer sourced funds on multimillion dollar football fields, instead of buying their students actually useful pieces of hardware, that's fine with me.
@ coolbho3000
I never did understand why sport seemed more important that education/educational tools in American schools...
Before you guys beat me down with that one I'm a foreign student studying in the US. I've heard teachers say,'its sad a student has to come into school and use energy when they're ill, when they could stay at home and be ready for their sports event after-school.'
@ coolbho3000 & The Grand Master
I totally agree... No.
You must not be familiar with American Public School. Sports programs are not permitted to use government funding. Any and all sports fields are financed by (1) money collected by Booster Clubs, (2) the members of the team, (3) ticket sales, (4) local and major businesses, and MAYBE—if they are ever so sweet in asking—city contributions not from federal taxes.
And if you don't think that 1, 2, and 3 could possibly make enough to fund the program, think about this: professional football teams make upwards of $100 million per annum after player compensation. Now divide that by 5 (assuming Pros charge $50 and High Schools charge $10), then divide by 14 (assuming a sold-out stadium of 70,000 and a modestly attended game of 5,000), multiply by 10/16 (number of games). Just from ticket sales, the football program alone would make over $890k every year. That's not even counting endorsements and booster club donations. And even if they made a quarter of that $890k, they could pay off the field and maintenance costs in less than 5 years.
P.S. Most schools are open for more than 5 years.
P.P.S My High School school sucked at football, but 3 years after opening they could afford a $100k Big Screen from endorsements alone.
@Matt O:
The problem with your usage of the Wikipedia image to prove your point is that it is based on population. Look at China and Korea for example. Using your argument, we would assume that Korea is "years behind" China's technology. And it would also appear that the Netherland's technology would be "years behind" India's.
I'm not saying that I don't agree with most of your points, but using that image to prove your point is fundamentally flawed and downright silly, not to mention that it doesn't help your argument one iota.
Well i did a little digging around and i just found this page...
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm
Do with it as you will, im going to bed.
I think the OLPC group isn't big enough to roll it out world wide all at once. They'll roll the project out in third world countries first - those folks will benefit a lot from it....
Also - how do you think the powers that be will react to the OLPC moving in on their turf here in the united states? They'll welcome the OLPC with open arms, won't they! You believe that, and I'll sell you a bridge in Brooklyn...