Anyway, I'd also like to point out that if nekomai's argumant was about, say, the value of giving black people educational games over actual computers then people would hail me a champion of moral rectitude. But when the charge is ageism... then who gives a f**k, right?
I mean sure, kids are stupid lots of times. But on this count. On this issue of learning computers where I think the OLPC is shafting them out of ignorance and unjustified bias, I think I deserve to argue my point and to do it with some sort of personal attachment.
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Originally Posted by alex_d
They certainly don't boost intelligence. They are far too simple.
Kids aren't idiots dammit. Educational games are probably the only way a professional such as yourself can get a kid to pay attention to him, so you think that they're so great (and you think kids are so dumb). That is what separates all of your research and theory from reality: the poor interface between the test subject and the researcher. (A profound problem that the researcher, surely, would be loth to admit.)
Kids left to their own devices with a computer learn it very well. 99% of kids with a home computer weren't taught by their parents or teachers anything about using it. They all learned it on their own. Tens of millions of kids learn Windows completely on their own and then teach their parents, and you, as a professional of educational technology, should be painfully aware of it!
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