Computers have changed the way Americans live, and it is easy to assume the whole world shares in our progress. But the way we live is not the case in many parts of the world, so the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is attempting to change that.
OLPC is an organization devoted to building a laptop called the XO that is inexpensively distributed in third-world countries. According to a BBC report, OLPC is also considering selling the $100 laptops to the general public.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte founded the OLPC project. He believes one of the biggest challenges facing the third-world is a lack of educational opportunity. He wrote on OLPC’s Web site, www.laptop.org, that OLPC is “an education project, not a laptop project.”
To combat the education gap, Negroponte wants to sell low-priced laptops to the governments of developing nations, who can then distribute the computers to its children.
While they haven’t made a final decision, selling these laptops to the public marks a change in the philosophy of the project. The original plan was to produce the computer only for children in developing nations. According to OLPC’s Web site the computers were customized with a distinctive green color and compact look so no one could easily sell an OLPC computer on the black market. Consumers from developed nations would not be eligible to buy or sell it.
The new plan is under consideration because the XO is turning out to be more expensive than OLPC anticipated. The computers themselves cost under $100 each, but shipping prices could raise the price as high as $150. To offset this cost, the OLPC wants to sell the XO to the public for $200. For every computer purchased at $200, the OLPC project will send another computer to a third-world child.
The OLPC project has been criticized by some technology writers and bloggers. Critics argue the last thing poor or undereducated children need is an electronic gadget. They say $100 a government would spend to buy each computer could be better used to purchase food and vaccines or be used to pay teachers and fund schools.
Initially, I agreed with this argument. I was put off by the idea of selling the XO to the general American public. Why should Americans, who have more expendable income and access to high-tech gadgets than most other countries, get to buy computers intended for the poorest people in the world? But the arguments about sharing the cost to developing countries changed my mind.
With a little more publicity, the One Laptop Per Child project could become a major force against poverty. If wealthier consumers are willing to take on part of the financial burden of educating children, why shouldn’t we let them?
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