Is the Dream of Education for All Already Over?

One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organisation which was set up to bring education to the world's poorest children, has impressed and inspired me with its original mission and approach for the last few years. Very recently, however, they have changed their strategy by launching a mass market kids tablet for Western countries. Does that mean the dream of bringing education and as such a realistic opportunity for a better life to everyone in developing countries is over?

The Vision of Nicholas Negroponte

OLPC was launched by Nicholas Negroponte, the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and younger brother of former United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, technology enthusiast and author of the best seller Being Digital (which eventually became the manifesto of the Internet Age). In 2005 Negroponte unveiled the concept of a $100 laptop computer, The Children's Machine, designed for students in the developing world (later the price increased to around US$200). The project was originally funded by member organizations such as eBay, Google, AMD, Red Hat, etc. In 2006 the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced it would back the laptop.

The organization has since distributed 2.5 million of its specially designed XO laptops to children in 60 countries. Although far behind its original target, it is still a pretty good figure. The laptops are sold to governments, to be distributed through the ministries of education with the goal of distributing "one laptop per child". They are given to students, similar to school uniforms and ultimately remain the property of the child. The operating system and software is localized to the languages of the participating countries.

Criticism from the Beginning

The OLPC project has received criticism both specific to its mission and criticism that is typical of many such systems, such as support, ease-of-use, security, content-filtering and privacy issues. In some countries the project has been bashed for its high prices, cultural emphasis and priority as compared to other basic needs of people in third-world settings. It was mentioned that the project was using an overly U.S. mindset that presented solutions not applicable to specific problems of developing countries. The OLPC project has also been attacked for allegedly adopting a "one-shot" deployment approach with little or no technical support or teacher training, and for neglecting pilot programs and formal assessment of outcomes in favor of quick deployment. It was highlighted that the approach needed to become more holistic, combining technology with a prolonged community effort, teacher training and local educational efforts and insights.

Proven Successes

Speaking at the Techonomy Conference in August 2010, Negroponte himself argued that already by then the organisation had managed to rebuff one of the biggest critiques of his effort: The idea that you can't just give a kid a laptop connected to the Internet and walk away.

Kids in the remotest places not only teach themselves how to read and write, but most importantly – and we found this in Peru – teach their parents to read or write.

Negroponte said that this is the point of his program. "I don't have a better story."

Afghanistan was another big focus for OLPC where more than half of the children don't go to school, and even 75 percent of girls. And even in schools a quarter of the teachers are illiterate and another quarter have only one more grade of education than their students. In those places, the students need to be a bigger part of the education system. "It's actually using the kids as the agents of change." Negroponte offered a challenge to the U.S. government.

The U.S. government spends $2 billion per week on war and only $2 million per week on education in the U.S. All you have to do is move half of 1 percent from column A to column B and every child in Afghanistan could have a laptop. That's what the U.S. would be remembered for. Why not do it? Everything is ready. That would make transformational change.

An article called “The Miracle of Wenchi - Ethiopian Kids Using Tablets to Teach Themselves“ describes how OLPC has handed their XO OLPC tablet computers to children in the remote Ethiopian village of Wenchi in an experiment aimed at enabling them to teach themselves. It is described how the kids have started to genuinely love them, how they have started to learn, to read and to write. And even though their town is situated in the Ethiopian highlands with the closest school 12 miles away.

Degradation to a Commercial Offer?

Fast forward from 2005 to present times: Some weeks ago OLPC announced a very different product. A $150 Android-based tablet for kids. Actually not for children in developing nations in the first place. Instead it's being sold in Walmart stores in the US since beginning of August. The XO tablet looks a little funky with its green rubber case, but it's actually a fairly straight-forward kids tablet with regards to its hardware and technical specifications. It's a 7-inch tablet manufactured by Vivitar, a maker of affordable cameras and tablets that was bought by a company called Sakar some years ago. Without any doubt its USP is its learning apps and learning curriculum. Contents and lessons are being provided by leading names in education, including Oxford University and Discovery Communication. Together with a custom-made interface specifically designed for kids it could be well accepted by young children and educational institutions.

Quo Vadis OLPC?

Still, the key issue remains: Why would OLPC bother to introduce a $150 tablet, if their official mission statement is To Empower the World′s Poorest Children through Education? Whereas the XO-1 laptop was from the very beginning designed for developing nations, the XO tablet clearly targets Western kids. Where is the charitable angle in selling a mid-priced tablet to children who can afford it anyway? Is there any profit OLPC can generate to invest to ship devices to developing nations? Or, and this does not seem to be unrealistic, are margins being eaten up by Vivitar and Walmart? And why have they chosen to launch a Western tablet? Don′t get me wrong. There are definitely many poor families and kids both in North America and Europe with no or only limited access to education. But why would you not have launched together with Wal-Mart and Vivitar/Sakar e.g. a charity program to donate a certain percentage of profit for each device sold to buy new tablets for US schools and kids?

I understand the value of the currently chosen partnership for Walmart and Vivitar by using OLPC's image and recognized social ambitions. However, I do not see the same benefit for OLPC; except for the risk of possibly and quickly losing its original purpose, mission, and focus.

Marketing the XO tablet in the US seems to be quite a change of pace for OLPC. It's not a real doing-good device any longer. Instead it has been transformed into an affordable and commercialized kids tablet.

OLPC is a not-for-profit organization that planned to change the world by creating education opportunities for the world′s poorest children where a laptop means education and equals the realistic hope for a brighter future. Provided by easy-to-use laptops with cutting-edge technology, low power need, connected with the Internet, and an education-focused software of highest quality. Education next to water, food, and shelter. All at the same time.

And now it′s selling more or less average tablets to middle-class Americans in Walmart stores. Was this the vision of Nicholas Negroponte and OLPC? One Laptop per Child... Is the dream already over?

What do you think? Is this going into a good direction? Any other ideas about how to make education accessible to everyone in the world?

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