"One Laptop Per Child"

Nicholas Negroponte's speech on giving one laptop per less fortunate child at the cost of $100 has thrown me for a loop. Negroponte's mission statement is as follows: "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning."

I feel as if it has its advatnages and disadvatnages. Everyone should have their own, limited access to the internet. The internet is not only a social network, but is also used for work-related projects. Children at such a young age, however should not have all the access they want to whatever is on the internet. Thersea makes a very interesting point in her blog. Are we that desperate to be giving children of such young ages lap tops they may destroy?

There are much more serious problems in the world than being able to give children lap tops. That money can be used in other important areas. According to CNN, “If we could get all the children in the world -- 1.2 billion of them between 6 and 12 -- to have a connected laptop that would be success. Roughly, half of those children have no electricity at home or school. The poverty is so extreme, and the environmental conditions are so extreme, we have to focus on them." This can't be considered a good thing. Right now the economy is so bad, that money should not be thrown away on something as little as this. Should we be buying lap tops or buying the natural resources that everyone may need or want? I feel as if there will be many different opinions on this topic, but when it comes down to it we have to consider what is more important in order to survive the harsh world we live in!

Images are from flikr.