Education, not war.
After spending the weekend up in New York for the Offf Festival, j3 invited me to yet another technology event. Nothing says relaxing (or romantic?) like sprinting to make a 12 o’clock train out of the city, just in time to roll into DC and head over to the National Press Club to talk about the “E-mergence of Technology in the Classroom.”
In all honesty, I am glad we made our train. The event was solid, the discussion, thought-evoking. The panel itself was made up of distinguished members of the technology and education communities, and brought to bare years of experience and opinion on the topic at hand. Props to both Newsweek and Walden University for pulling it all together.
I took more notes at this event than I normally do (maybe because there were so many educators in the room… I felt obliged and even compelled to go into student-note-taking mode?), but for now, because the hour is getting late, I will share only one thought:
The Iraq war is budgeted at around $190 billion dollars next year, pointed out Walter Bender (President of Software and Content, One Laptop per Child Foundation).
To paraphrase Bender: ‘Not to compare apples to oranges here, but that works out to about one laptop per child… WORLD WIDE.’ [emphasis, mine].
Bender then brought it on home by saying: “One could ask which would be a better investment for peace.”
I don’t know enough about the nuanced arguments for and against OLPC… and I am not about to say that it is an either-or thing with national defense and education… BUT (caveats stated) I do know that education, hope, and engagement are far more empowering and “preventional” than any band-aid approaches that require guns, killing and destruction.
UPDATE: “Starting November 12, 2007 One Laptop Per Child will be offering a Give 1 Get 1 Program for a brief window of time in North America.” Check it out here: http://www.xogiving.org/
Author’s note:
Originally posted on my WordPress blog: “Education, not war.” [November 6, 2007]
