hmm, yvan, you make some good, detailed points. We should definately first be explicit about age. In my head I am thinking of someone 10-12 years old although many of my points I would apply to 7yos too. (OLPC defines its target group as 6-18 years old, which is rather broad and covers kids who are just beginning to read as well as those who are more than old enough to be intensively programming.)
Your main point is that kids need some sort of reason to use a computer is very valid. But, that shouldn't turn into an argument that all a kid should have is a device that only caters to that end reason. Ie, a kid will have the objective of playing a video game or going on Disney's site. Should you give them a computer with a "Play video game" and "Go to Disney" button, or should you give them a full winxp machine and let them figure out how to use the start menu, install a program, and check their wireless connection?
I feel that my most precious argument, the one that is most likely to push the buttons of many people here, is that adults shouldn't try to project their feelings about computers on children. Many adults feel frustrated and intimidated by computers. Figuring out how to do something may feel like worse than a chore, like pure stress. They enjoy the simplicity of the macintosh.
And they feel that giving a kid a computer with that push-button, appliance-like simplicity will do them a service. Will relieve their stress. Make them happy. Maybe I am saying this too emphatically, but I think you know what I'm talking about.
However, kids fundamentally do not feel this way. They don't mind, they just soak it all in. It's because of their brains, their emotions, their curiosity, whatever, etc, it doesn't matter. In fact, don't even try to understand, just take it on faith.
This is the little bit of perspective that I want to get across to all the old adults who shouldn't try to make the OLPC to be like the computer they'd like to have.
And I'm sorry if this argument makes some people here confront their own selves. (And look, I know that's not the only issue people have with my posts, but it was what was in mogui's head after I replied to nekomai's "most people i teach never go beyond the basics" with "it's because they're old.")
Quote:
|
Most reasons for all these observations turn around the fact that the computer has not been democratized yet and offered to developing minds. It is still more expensive than what can be afforded for kids. A small portable computer such as the ones we're examining now proposes a decent alternative, not to the specs of a rich programmer, but to the eyes of a kid who can now say "My Personal Computer"
|
The OLPC is not a computer. It is an appliance. The word 'computer' is very powerful, perhaps even deserving of its hype. So we must apply it carefully. The Eee, though, is a real computer. And that's why I think it has immeasurably more merit than the OLPC. It has the potential of changing these kids' lives, same as the computer (and windows and all the applications that are run on it) has forged my own.