Good Thursday. I am back. In full form. Disclaimer; my blog posts do not necessarily reflect the views of GlobalScholar.com. Here's the deal; we can have an interesting discussing with me sharing my opinions. Or, this can be your average corporate blog with nothing but self-promoting drivel being written. You decide. Not. I've already decided for you. The objective of this blog is to discuss topics relevant (somewhat!) to education; in a casual + humorous + insightful manner.

Before we proceed; there is a new suit in GS town. Cheat sheet: suit: executive. GS: globalscholar. Btw, in Seattle, the office dress code is VERY laid back; regardless of ones rung on the company ladder. Hence, we can substitute the term "suit" with "khakis". His name is Hari. Although we fight like cats and dogs, I adore him. The only weakness with him is that he never seems to be in a "Hari" to get things done. FYI, the previous sentence is entirely nonfactual. But a good pun nonetheless.

Serious mode. For some time, I have been reading about the One Laptop Per Child Initiative. Wiki link. On the surface, this is a no-brainer in the philanthropic sense. Per wiki, here's a description of the OLPC: The goal of the foundation is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves. To that end, OLPC is designing a laptop, educational software, manufacturing base, and distribution system to provide children outside of the first-world with otherwise unavailable technological learning opportunities.

Anyways, after giving this several minutes of considerable thoughts, I'd like to raise a few points about this project...

1. This mission was announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland. And there is no denying that attendees of this forum are all seriously in-touch, on a first-hand basis, with economic hardships. But...is it possible that children in third world countries might prefer other types of gifts. For example; something edible? Maybe even throw in a satchel or two of potable water? I think drinking physical water is far more effective for thirst quenching than bookmarking water.com on delicious.
2. Out of sheer curiosity; in the offices of OLPC, do staff work on laptops or desktops? Either way, there's a serious conflict: if they work on desktops; come on folks, aren't we being a bit hypocritical here? And if they're on laptops, isn't the whole idea to have kids working laptops. Not adults!
3. Children in third world countries have it hard enough. Life is complicated and often painful. I am the owner of a laptop. A Dell. It is constantly reminding to install updates to my latest installations, with the request that I uninstall previous updates to my initial installations. Oftentimes my email crashes. Sometimes Gmail is experiencing server issues. And these days, many banner ads incorporate video so that when you are in middle of reading an article, the clip will start rolling and the unexpected AUDIO will scare the shreck out of me! Why then should we further burden the urchins of 3rd world Countries?

Do I have an alternative suggestion? You betcha! Tech companies want to enhance the lives of children in undeveloped Countries? How about "One iPod Per Child"? Or better yet, "One Nintendo Wii Per Child".

The only potential downside I see with OWPC (One Wii Per Child) is that the current wii drought in the US may cause American youngsters to beg their folks to emigrate to Mongolia...

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