[SLL] Great day for linux OLPC

[Chuck Wolber]

On Tue, 2 Jan 2007, Bill Campbell wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 02, 2007, Jerry Horvath wrote:
> >One Laptop per child has been launched.
> >
> >"In fact, one of the saddest but most common conditions in elementary 
> >school computer labs (when they exist in the developing world), is the 
> >children are being trained to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint," Mr 
> >Negroponte said.
> >
> >"I consider that criminal, because children should be making things, 
> >communicating, exploring, sharing, not running office automation 
> >tools."
> 
> Agreed!  Having a computer on a student's desk is a sure way to insure 
> that the student isn't paying attention to the teacher.

As a dyed in the wool computer geek I've always been of the opinion that 
computers simply do not belong in schools. School should be a place that 
teaches a child to think and be a problem solver. Yes, computers can help 
with that, but they're only a very small part of it. The bigger picture 
includes the bigger world and problems that do not always conform nicely 
to textbooks. The best class I ever had in primary school was Mr. 
Pevovar's senior physics class. It had absolutely nothing to do with 
computers, but I credit that with a good 99% of my ability to do what I do 
with computers. It taught me how to think and be a problem solver and to 
think beyond the ruleset that most people live by.

..Chuck..

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