One Laptop Per Child - Good idea, Poor results? >> Scott Klarr

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One Laptop Per Child - Good idea, Poor results?

Posted By Scott Klarr on Jan 26, 2008 at 12:39 am

It started out as a great philanthropic idea - buy a laptop through the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) charitable organization, and one laptop would be delivered to a child in some far off poverty stricken nation.

The official mission statement of the group is simple: To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves. Two major keys to the program were the development of a $100 working laptop pc partially funded by the worlds largest tech companies, along with a sense that the buyer would be helping to inspire and inform a child that couldnt otherwise afford a computer.

Thats how the program started out, but shipping delays, customer service horror stories and a tidal wave of missed delivery dates has enraged thousands of global participants who paid $399 (half for the low cost pcs, the other half presumably a donation to further the groups efforts).

The program officially stopped taking new orders on December 31st, and a portion of the 80,000 or so who particapated are now groaning over a myriad of problems that have combined to keep them from receiving their computers. Message boards and phone lines are lit up with thousands of angry OLPC customers demanding the product or their money back.

While those in charge sort out the mess that the One Laptop Per Child program has become, one is reminded of a Christmas episode of the beloved television sitcom M*A*S*H. In the episode, Winchester secretly donates a box of luxury fudge on Christmas Eve to a war-torn Korean orphanage. The next night, he is enraged to discover that the orphanage headmaster sold the fudge on the black market.

When confronted by Winchester with what appeared to be his indifference and coldhearted ability to steal from children, the headmaster tells the wealthy surgeon that he sold the valuable treats to buy enough rice, meat and cabbage for the orphans to last a month. Winchester humbled by the headmaster sees the futility of giving hungry orphans 10 minutes worth of decadent fudge when they could have been fed nutritious, life-sustaining food for a month.

Its a great idea to give working affordable laptops to kids in underdeveloped countries, but perhaps nations and the private sector should work to give them homes, food, medicines and clothing first. What good does it do to give a poor child a computer if they have no electricity for power?