Valhalla Island

If you haven’t heard, for a long time now there’s been a big fuss about the $100 Laptop which is now finally shipping. It’s also known as the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. The basic idea is that Westerners buy two of these computers, they get one and the other one is given to a child in a third world, poverty stricken countries.

I just don’t get it.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that children in Uganda are not longing for a cheap, durable laptop computer. I would guess that they’re more concerned with clean water, food and clothing. I would guess that they don’t know what a computer is and if they were shown, would not see the it’s value to them.

I’m not an expert but the way I see it, computers need to come after the establishment of other systems, like, say, electricity. Are the laptop owners even going to be able to charge them?

One laptop per child is overkill even in developed countries. No pre-teen child needs their own computer, it seems even more ridiculous that anyone would want to give a laptop to every child in areas where they don’t desire or need them.