Dec. 2, 2007
What If Every Child Had A Laptop?
Lesley Stahl Reports On The Dream And The Difficulties Of Getting A Computer To Every Child
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One Laptop Per Child
MIT Prof. Nicholas Negroponte's dream is to put a laptop computer into the hands of every child as an educational aid. Lesley Stahl reports on his progress in Cambodia and Brazil.
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Intel gave every student in one class in Mexico a "Classmate" - which Negroponte believes is part of an effort to kill him off.
At a recent lecture at MIT he accused Intel of dumping, of going to the same governments he’s trying to sell to and offering the Classmate below cost.
"Intel should be ashamed of itself," Negroponte says. "It’s just shameless."
"Negroponte believes that you’re trying to drive him out," Stahl told Craig Barrett, Intel’s Chairman of the Board.
"We’re not trying to drive him out of business. We’re trying to bring capability to young people," Barrett responds. "And it’s more than just Intel. It’s going to take the whole industry to do this."
Barrett flies around the world bringing computers to schools in places like Malinalco, Mexico.
He says that like Negroponte, Intel just wants to help kids get affordable computers. And that they would be willing to reach an accommodation with One Laptop.
"There are lots of opportunities for us to work together," Barrett says. "That’s why when you say this is competition, we’re tying to drive him out of business: this is crazy."
Not to Negroponte, who says the rivalry goes back to when he first introduced the One Laptop and Barrett dismissed it as “a gadget.”
For Nicholas Negroponte it’s not just business - it’s personal. It’s about his dream, his baby.
"Has Intel hurt you and the mission?" Stahl asks.
"Yes, Intel has hurt the mission enormously," Negroponte says.
He thought he’d have millions of orders by now, but countries that had once promised to buy in bulk, haven't. And so, Negroponte spends almost all his time now lobbying government officials to buy the laptops.
He says he travels about 330 days a year.
He says he’s confident his mission will succeed, even though he’s about to face even more competition as other companies are working on low-cost laptops.
But that will result in more kids getting computers, which is, after all, what Negroponte said he wanted in the first place.
"You know, you call your project One Laptop Per Child. And you mean that every kid in the entire world is going to have a laptop?" Stahl asks.
"Yes," Negroponte replies.
Asked if that is realistic, Negroponte tells Stahl, "If I was realistic I wouldn’t have started this project, okay? … So it’s not realistic…but we'll come close."
After 60 Minutes first broadcast this story, Negroponte and Intel decided to get together, sort of. Negroponte invited an Intel representative to sit on his board, but Intel is still selling the competing Classmate computer.
If you’re wondering how to get Negroponte's laptop for your family, it’s only for sale to Americans on the Internet, and only until the end of this month.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 285 CommentsI would be willing to purchase one of your computers for a child in need and I bet a lot of other people would be willing to do the same. Is there a website where I could donate?
Why when they are availale in the US will we have to purchase 2, one for our children and another for 3rd world countries? This stroy and this program in an insult to US citizens. It makes me want to stop contribing to any over seas charity. Secondly, the discussion of competition for these computers is insane. If more than one company wants to do good in the world so be it. When the man said he got nothing out of this program, I don't believe him. If so then why worry about competition, imbrace it.
P.S. Who is paying for the 330 days of Negropontes travel...AMD? MIT? a foundation or who?
I will like to work with him if he can contact me.
Ike Morah
After watching Ms. Stahl's 60 Minutes segment about your creating a $200 PC for the World's children,
I have one reaction:
Hooray
Then having Intel emulate your model at their own cost?
Amazing, Without Precedent
You are a genius.
Something on the order of the invention of the Apple, or the introduction of the first PC.
Forget about complaining, forget about Congress.
Instead, let's go develop cheap drugs for Third World countries, for later resale in the US.
I believe that is possible.
And then have Pfizer fund a competitive drug?
I think you are one to something.
I am available to help, at no compensation.
Paradigm shift, drastic innovation, whatever you want to call it, you are making a huge difference in helping educate the world's children.
That is something you should feel very proud of.
Ms. Stahl, a class act. Can I interest you in anchoring the CBS evening news? Seriously.
Very truly yours,
why__not
Yea...and what if every child in Africa could own an insecticide-treated bed net that only costs 5 dollars so they live another day and not die of malaria?
Negroponte, and others going out of our country? Can anyone answer this? The celebrities adopting from India etc., when we have our own special needs kids in good old US of A!! Another thing,is Negroponte teaching these kids about the computer and setting them up with WIFI to take more jobs away from the USA? And Dear Lesley, I do not want to see another story about foreign help until there are segments on why our rich don't believe in giving a helping hand at home; and some about entrepreneurs/celebrities who are trying to make a difference here.
and what if every child had a parent read them a bedtime story.
Posted by downtowner97 at 08:26 PM : May 20, 2007
No kidding, I hear ya.
As someome on another channel would say - "Give me a break"!
As someome on another channel would say - "Give me a break"!
What do the poor need? First, self-control. Second, respect for law. Third, honesty. With these three things, every poor country today would be a paradise on earth. It's corruption and a lack of basic ethics that makes communities poor. With honesty and humble respect for others, even a refugee camp becomes a decent place.
How does a laptop magically give you self-control, or eliminate the disrespect for law and fairness that leads to the horrible corruption of places like Mexico and New York City.
Kind of stupid leadership we have, apparently laptops didn't help them.
We have poot schools, and we have kids who walk into the classroom and choose not to learn. Any child can go to the library and use a computer, we have grants, we have opprotunities here too. The last thing we need are more 3rd world children growing up angry at what they have been told and then they turn into terrorists against a country that they have been told false stories about.
There are churches and individuals, and so many others that are reaching out around the world. If this man wants to use his life in this way, he should. We each have our own path and purpose.
If we give more children lives of real value, and hope, perhaps we would not be inundated with so many more immigrants than we are able to assimilate into our schools and communities. We have gone from one or two foreign born children in our classrooms to more than 50%, and I know of schools where parents speak more than 30 different languages. We welcome people but do not have the services to better their lives and maintain ours.
Giving others the tools to learn and grow ca only help them in their own countries.
I think the idea of children being able to teach other children is perfect, because if you watch children at play, that is what they do.
I don't understand all of the harsh criticism. If American schools want to get involved there is nothing that says that they can't, in fact, I think if you look at the website for the OLPC program, it looks as though there is a target for the United States. It may not be as much of an interest to the U.S. because we have so many other options available.
If children in other parts of the world are able to educate themselves, and that may help them enhance the quality of their lives, then they will be more productive members of their communities, better workers, better parents and therefore impart better values to their own children in kind.
It's about opportunity, providing opportunity, that's all.
Further, how can he possibly cry foul when Intel makes a less expensive and superior product available "to the poor" for less money? This man is not as altruistic as he would have us believe.
UNESCO is working to create the conditions for genuine dialogue based upon respect for shared values and the dignity of each civilization and culture.
This role is critical, particularly in the face of terrorism, which constitutes an attack against humanity. The world urgently requires global visions of sustainable development based upon observance of human rights, mutual respect and the alleviation of poverty, all of which lie at the heart of UNESCO%u2019s mission and activities.
Through its strategies and activities, UNESCO is actively pursuing the Millennium Development
Goals, especially those aiming to:
%u2022 halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries by 2015
%u2022 achieve universal primary education in all countries by 2015
%u2022 eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005
%u2022 help countries implement a national strategy for sustainable development by 2005 to reverse current trends in the loss of environmental resources by 2015.
%u2022 UNESCO and the United Nations Millennium Goals
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=3328&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
CelebrityMooch.com --- check out the laptop picture.
He should be doing this for children in third world countries, if that is what he wants to do. He has the right to spend his time and money on what he wants.
Every child in the U.S. is far better off than children in many third-world countries. U.S. children with or without parents have a government that will make sure they are fed, clothed, live in a structure of some kind, have medical care available, and go to school if they are able to do so.
All the self-control, respect for law, and honesty in the world will make no difference if you have no food, water, medical care, or education. The poor are not poor because they are immoral. If that were true then all the wealthy in the world would be the pillars of morality and that idea is absurd.
If you really think children in the U.S. need a free laptop get up off of your duffs and organize the same kind of program here. ONE person with an idea started the worldwide program mentioned in this article. You could be that one person in your community, state, or U.S. who starts this program for U.S. children.
And the comments from people here are so nieve. I cant believe anyone would think this is a good idea. If these people ever do figure much out on the internet the first thing they will do is sell the laptop and get some money to make a real difference in their community.
Laptops are not a world, they are a tool--but between them and tv, our society is headed towards a new type of culture and individual isolationism.
All of my kids have laptops. Initially the arguement was for homework and internet access, but what we discovered was that way into the school nights, the kids were playing games or watching movies or downloading songs. Even my 9 year old has a laptop--and she loves to use it for writing some stories but mostly for playing games. To children, laptops are nothing but very addictive toys. When they have them out (at Christmas, Easter, Spring and Summer break) the kids would rather be on their laptops all alone than visit friends, play outside, play regular board games or even watch tv.
When their grades became affected, we took them away, but such was the lure---that they had to be put under lock and key, then voila! The grades improved and the deteriorating eyesight stabilized, (screens are bad on the eyes if looked at for hours at a time).
End of part 1
I think computers are ruining us as a society. People kill, lie etc with impunity because in the games they continually play the credo is: "Whatever it takes"
I did not know how insidious and scary the addiction to computers was until my went on the blink the other day. I actually had anxiety and almost a panic attack, until the problem was resolved and I could see that Roadrunner home page again. Scary--so I will be taking a huge break....from all this bs...in fact...I shouldn't even be on now. Watch--the more computer/laptop exposure--the more fvcked up our culture will become. think Iraq, Bush and the VA Massacre and the attitudes surrounding those issues are bad? THOSE are just preludes to where we are all headed.
And the comments from people here are so nieve. I cant believe anyone would think this is a good idea. If these people ever do figure much out on the internet the first thing they will do is sell the laptop and get some money to make a real difference in their community.
And the comments from people here are so nieve. I cant believe anyone would think this is a good idea. If these people ever do figure much out on the internet the first thing they will do is sell the laptop and get some money to make a real difference in their community.
And the comments from people here are so nieve. I cant believe anyone would think this is a good idea. If these people ever do figure much out on the internet the first thing they will do is sell the laptop and get some money to make a real difference in their community.
And the comments from people here are so nieve. I cant believe anyone would think this is a good idea. If these people ever do figure much out on the internet the first thing they will do is sell the laptop and get some money to make a real difference in their community.
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