On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 12:15 PM, Caryl Bigenho <[email protected]> wrote: > Unfortunately, what they say is pretty valid. Lack of proper training of the > teachers (spend some money on it, for heavens sake!) and community > involvement (they turned down lots of offers when they were starting up) > have pretty much doomed this to near failure. Add to that the recent > warehouse fire that destroyed 10s of thousands of brand new XOs slated to go > to the rural children in Amazonas... a double tragedy.
Perhaps is it too much to ask people to read the report itself, and not just the Economic summary. I recommend this alternative reading: http://h30565.www3.hp.com/t5/Mobility-Matters/Is-OLPC-failing-Or-is-it-The-Economist/ba-p/2562 regards. -walter > > Contrast that with Uruguay where there is strong teacher, parent and > community involvement. It is not OLPC's fault things are not going well, it > is the politicians and top educational administrators who think they know > everything. They don't. > > Caryl > >> Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 12:04:25 -0400 >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected] >> CC: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [support-gang] Bad article in Economist on OLPC Peru >> >> Yes, Rodrigo is writing one... >> >> On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Alan Claver <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Here's the article (I don't care to give them any page views so "Fair >> > Use"). The limited comments in the article (as well as my original source >> > for the link - http://www.economist.com/node/21552202) were all in >> > agreement. No positive comments. >> > >> > Hope someone is planning on some sort of response. >> > >> > Here's the URL if you disagree: http://www.economist.com/node/21552202 >> > >> > >> > Education in Peru >> > >> > Error message >> > >> > A disappointing return from an investment in computing >> > >> > Apr 7th 2012 | LIMA | from the print edition >> > >> > GIVING a child a computer does not seem to turn him or her into a future >> > Bill Gates—indeed it does not accomplish anything in particular. That is >> > the >> > conclusion from Peru, site of the largest single programme involving One >> > Laptop per Child, an American charity with backers from the computer >> > industry and which is active in more than 30 developing countries around >> > the >> > world. >> > >> > Peru is enjoying an economic boom, but has one of Latin America’s worst >> > education systems. Flush with mining revenues, the previous government >> > embraced the laptop initiative. It spent $225m to supply and support >> > 850,000 >> > basic laptops to schools throughout the country. But Peruvians’ test scores >> > remain dismal. Only 13% of seven-year-olds were at the required level in >> > maths and only 30% in reading, the education ministry reported last month. >> > >> > An evaluation >> > (http://www.iadb.org/en/research-and-data/publication-details,3169.html?pub_id=IDB-WP-304) >> > of the laptop programme by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) found >> > that the children receiving the computers did not show any improvement in >> > maths or reading. Nor did it find evidence that access to a laptop >> > increased >> > motivation, or time devoted to homework or reading. The report applauded >> > the >> > government for providing much-needed hardware: less than a quarter of >> > Peruvian households had a computer in 2010. But it now needs to improve >> > teacher-training and the curriculum, said Julian Cristia of the IDB. Above >> > all, the classroom environment needs to change. >> > >> > Part of the problem is that students learn faster than many of their >> > teachers, according to Lily Miranda, who runs a computer lab at a state >> > school in San Borja, a middle-class area of Lima. Sandro Marcone, who is in >> > charge of educational technologies at the ministry, agrees. “If teachers >> > are >> > telling kids to turn on computers and copy what is being written on the >> > blackboard, then we have invested in expensive notebooks,” he said. It >> > certainly looks like that. >> > _______________________________________________ >> > support-gang mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang >> >> >> >> -- >> Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529 >> 4266 >> _______________________________________________ >> support-gang mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang > > _______________________________________________ > Lista olpc-Sur > [email protected] > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sur > -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org _______________________________________________ Lista olpc-Sur [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sur
