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  dorpus, 2 May 2005 @ 7:13pm

  
  

  If they can read, sure

  What is the use of computers for kids, if they can't read? How do we know these kiosks aren't going to become slave markets for children sold into slavery?
  
  This guy is just touting his successes in villages where he figured he'd succeed. How many villages has he not gone to, and how much wrongdoing is already happening because of the kiosks? Maybe this guy is a pied piper who snares ignorant villagers.
  

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    Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2005 @ 9:36pm

    
    

    Re: If they can read, sure

    Which part of the Republic of Fear are you from? I know of many poor Russians who taught themselves to read and write english from just experimenting with computers. Little to no formal education. These same Russians have built successful software companies whose main clients are American. I know this because I helped them incorporate in America so the U.S. government would buy from them. I think you are mistaken in the idea that keeping people from something will do them more good than harm.

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      dorpus, 3 May 2005 @ 6:27am

      
      

      Re: If they can read, sure

      You're talking about Russians, who come from a thoroughly modern culture that values education. Rural Indians have to be convinced first that education is good for them -- that sending kids to school is better than selling them or putting them to work in the fields.
      
      
      

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  Ann, 3 May 2005 @ 7:27am

  
  

  No Subject Given

  I've read that there were problems with this particular experiment. The idea may be perfectly sound, but this person is promoting the results based mostly on his own data. Someone else that followed up found that the children were learning mostly just how to point and click, and that parents were complaining that the children were no longer studying for school because they spent their time playing computer games. Of course, maybe that shows that rural Indian children can quickly become like kids everywhere else!
  
  All of this takes money, not just to place the computers originally but to maintain them. It's worth asking whether this is the most cost-effective way to help these children learn. If we give up on clean drinking water or school books simply to provide the children with video games, one can question the trade-off. But my children have benefited greatly from educational software such as JumpStart, Reader Rabbit, etc., so there's potential, if it's done well.

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  dorpus, 3 May 2005 @ 9:06am

  
  

  No Subject Given

  I see problems...everywhere...

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    dorpus, 3 May 2005 @ 9:50am

    
    

    Re: No Subject Given

    The last comment wasn't mine.
    

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      Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2005 @ 12:37pm

      
      

      No Subject Given

      To restrict someone access to something because YOU think it is wrong is a mistaken approach. You aren't fixing the problem... you are just creating more problems and putting off the initial problem for later.

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  nonuser, 3 May 2005 @ 10:38am

  
  

  computer literacy is now a joke

  It was last an issue back in the '80s, when DOS was the operating system and the applications were driven solely by the keyboard.
  

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