Talk:Educators

• Is this an OLPC-maintained page? Then kindly put under it that category.
• Thank you. Then as to "playing" the content, would you have specifications, like what browser to expect and the plugins? We have to know this because of the limited resources we have in the machine. Somewhere it was already said that Java will not be there, so will there be any SCORM adaptation for OLPC? - User:Raffy

There are several pages on the Wiki that describe the Software specification which you can find by searching.

English?

I don't quite understand why the Algebra book will be written in English; is this so it can be more easily translated into the native languages of the students? I am asking this because of two paragraphs in article I read on money.cnn.com (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391805/index.htm):

"Muammar Qaddafi plans to give one to every schoolchild in Libya. Shimon Peres hopes to do something similar for Palestinian kids in the West Bank.

Negroponte has also seduced

I hope that is not the word they meant. --Mokurai 05:15, 5 November 2006 (EST)

the leaders of Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria and - until the recent coup - Thailand with his vision. Each says he wants at least a million for his country's children. And serious talks are underway with Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam and others."

Only Nigeria perhaps counts as a country where English is widely spoken.

I sincerely don't mean to be negative at all, but surely it can't be the case that you are requiring each student to learn English, even a very simple variant of it, before they can learn Algebra.

69.12.133.6 23:49, 2 November 2006 (EST)Fred LaForge

The idea is not to have a single Algebra book that somehow gets the OLPC stamp of approval, and is written in one language and then translated into others. It is to have books in various languages and sources available to teachers and students. The existence of an English Algebra text does not mean there will be no other Algebra texts formatted for the OLPC, in English or in other languages. Sj talk

I would suggest that one important reason why the texbook is being written in English because that is the only language that the potential authors share. It makes no sense to think of writing it in Arabic first (even if Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khowarizmi wrote the first algebra book, Kitab al-jabr w'al-muqabali, in Arabic) and then translate to English, Hebrew, and other languages from there. It would make sense to have an illustrative page from al-Khowarizmi in the new book, though. --Mokurai 05:15, 5 November 2006 (EST)

Your problem

I don't think you guys understand what a terrible idea this is. Think about all the problems facing Africa right now - the genocide in Darfur, the AIDS epidemic, widespread poverty and hunger. How can you possibly justify spending this much money on laptops? I know it's supposed to be educational, but education is kind of useless when you're dead. I would suggest stopping this project immediately and donating all of your resources to something that may actually benefit mankind.

This was an anonymous comment posted on the article page that I have moved to the discussion page. In response, OLPC is certainly not in denial about the many problems people in developing countries (and elsewhere) face: war, hunger, etc. If you are at war, your first priority must be peace. If you are starving your first priority must be food. Beyond that, we argue that learning is an essential factor in addressing the litany of problems you present. It is not the solution in and of itself, rather it is an integral part of the agency for large-scale change. We at OLPC are working on that aspect of the problem. We encourage others to work with us or on other aspects of the problem. To paint it as an either-or choice for the world is not a fair charcaterization. The world spends many order of magnitude on endevours that arguably have less potential upside. That said, we welcome concrete suggestions as to how we can best ensure the maximum positive impact of the project. --Walter 03:02, 7 December 2006 (EST)

"To paint it as an either-or choice for the world is not a fair charcaterization." There is certainly an either-or choice at hand. Either spend absurd sums of money on the research and manufacturing necessary to produce these laptops, or spend money to directly improve the lives of suffering people. Making the laptops edible may salvage the project however.

I don't think you (anonimous contributor) realize the problem facing the world (not just Africa). The problems you mention, as dire and anguishing as they are, are the problems that usually make it to 'western media and news outlets'. There are thousands of little problems that actually stop the machinery from working. Education has always been regarded as the best multi-purpose tool to solve problems because it sets you in a path or way of thinking that probably somebody, somewhere, somehow has probably developed a solution for a problem similar to yours that you can learn from. Besides, there are millions of kids that already have enough food, but no education. It would be a waste not to educate them properly or give them a better chance at it... Development is not an unidimensional problem. The problems you mention have to be dealt with too, education is one of the tools; medicines and grain by themselves will not solve them. --Xavi 06:36, 7 December 2006 (EST)