Muyiwa Taiwo

New Zealand

Lecturer

The argument against the OLPC laptop fails to recognize that the children in developing countries will grow up in a globalized world, one in which they will have to compete for jobs with the children growing up in developed countries. If it is right to give the children in developed countries access to computers, why is it wrong to provide the same access to children in developing countries?

And those who argue that children in developing countries need classrooms more than they need computers fail to recognize that children in Africa and other developing countries have for centuries held classes under the shade of trees, and the fact that they now use laptops does not change that. In any case, classrooms are gradually becoming less relevant in the delivery of learning, even in the developed world, where all manner of on-line, distant learning takes place.

Finally, the critics of the OLPC project should realize that today's medium for creativity, today's pencil and sketchpad, is the computer. Arguing against the provision of cheap laptops to children in developing countries is like arguing against the provision of exercise books and pencils to children. Just as the use of paper and pencil does not get in the way of children's learning and creativity, the use of laptops is not likely to be a hindrance. Pushing that line of argument should be seen for what it is - an attempt to keep the digital divide as wide as ever, and indeed widen it.

Nicholas Negroponte and his team deserve all the support and encouragement they can possibly get.