I was originally a sceptic. I had heard about the plan to build $100 laptops for the world’s poor children and thought it ridiculous and misguided. Almost insulting. I’d been to the developing world, and cute little laptops for kids was not the answer that came to my mind when I looked at the problems around me. Surely, I thought, $100 could be put to better use addressing more critical issues. However, I have since become a believer, or at least a fan, of the OLPC program.
The XO is aid in a form we are not used to seeing. At first glance, it seems like the misguided and uninformed effort of first world idealists who think technology is the cure for all problems. People for whom Blackberrys and iPods really are miracles. People too ignorant to understand that clean water trumps the web. People who fail to understand that the poor crave a full belly, not a full inbox.
One can certainly argue that the XO is too much technology where simple things like pens, paper and textbooks would do. I can tell you from experience that the value of a Bic pen is somewhere near that of a cigarette in the developing world, which is to say: high. A pen is powerful because it allows you to write and it allows you to learn. It is one of the tools of education. And education is powerful. It provides something that water and rice simply cannot. It provides hope and opportunity.
The XO is a different kind of pen. (And paper. And textbook.) It too, is a tool for education. And that is where its power lies. That is why it has the potential to make a difference where traditional aid has failed. Much of the aid we send to the developing world is simply a band-aid that fails to address the root causes of the poverty that necessitate it. For all the bellies we have filled, for all the wells we have drilled, and for all the vaccinations and immunizations we have provided, the problem still persists. People still live in poverty with no way out. Even so, all of those traditional aid programs need to continue. Nothing should prevent those of us with so much from redistributing our resources to those with so little. However, those simple and vital programs should not prevent us from attempting to fix the underlying problems that create and sustain such poverty. The kind of problems that can exist because the people who must endure them lack access to information, lack exposure to ideas, and lack the ability to communicate with each other. This is where the XO steps in. Decades of traditional aid have not successfully fixed the problem. We need to attack it from a new angle. We need to “Think Different.” The XO is different.
We know that throwing computers into schools doesn’t automatically make kids smarter. However, I think we do a disservice to the students of the developing world when we assume they would so easily take for granted the resources that we give students in the developed world. These are kids that share desks, share books, and walk miles to and from school each day just for the opportunity to learn. These are kids who save every scrap of paper and sharpen their pencils down to the nub. They waste nothing.
Thinking that the XO is simply about providing the poor access to YouTube, Facebook and online shopping is to miss its greater gift: education. If you’ve played with the XO, you know it is packed with educational software that is fun and engaging. Kids can write, chat, surf, make music, program, draw, analyze sounds and more. And if along the way blogs, YouTube videos and Facebook networks spring up from the far corners of the earth then so much the better. Are we not frequently outraged when journalists and bloggers are silenced? Shouldn’t we be glad to give these people a voice and platform? Think of the impact the printing press had because it allowed people to distribute ideas. I, for one, cannot wait until some school in the developing world starts blogging and sharing videos.
The XO is an experiment. We don’t yet know how successful it will be. However, we should never shun attempts to bring education, clean water, food and health to those in need because the method of delivery is too different. And if the XO isn’t your kind of idea, find some other way to give.
I gave one and got one. My XO arrived yesterday, and it really is different.
