Concept
“one laptop per child” is a concept, an idea.
It is an education program, not just a laptop project.
The argument for “ olpc ” is simple: many children, especially those in rural parts of developing countries, have so little access to school, in some cases just the shade of a tree, that building schools and training teachers is only one way, perhaps the slowest way to alleviate the situation.
Even when schools exist, school is often so boring, that kids drop out. Too much is built on discipline and testing. Too little on the creative and imaginative sides of children, and far too often, even when teachers show up to teach class, those classes are enormously overcrowded. Many teachers probably went through the same failed education system that their students are now part of, and so the cycle of illiteracy, under-education and poverty continues.
While school building programs and teacher education must continue, another and parallel method advised by olpc is to leverage the children themselves by engaging them more directly in their own learning. It may sound implausible to equip the poorest children with connected laptops when rich children may not have them, but it is not.
Laptops can be affordable and children are more capable than they are given credit for. The laptop is the embodiment of a transformation of education. The opportunity, access, and entrepreneurial opportunities it creates are staggering. It provides a bright, open future to the net generation of children.
The olpc laptops are bought en-masse by governments or the private sector and given to the children of a country, free of charge. The olpc laptop, over 5 years, is actually less expensive than textbooks, and offers many more opportunities.