Like we need something else of which to be made fun...BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - If $200 laptop computers are good for kids in Peru and Mongolia, why not Alabama?
Birmingham's City Council has approved a $3.5 million plan to provide schoolchildren with 15,000 computers produced by the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child Foundation, which aims to spread laptops to poor children in developing countries.
The foundation says the deal marks the first time a U.S. city has agreed to buy the machines, which also are headed to such countries as Rwanda, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico in addition to Peru and Mongolia.
The jokes practically write themselves....
Q: What's the difference between impoverished, illiterate children in the third world, and kids in B'ham city schools?
A: Kids in B'ham have access to better drugs.
Feel free to write your own jokes in the comments thread.
Look, I'm all for kids getting comfortable with using computers. It's a business necessity, but first of all, these are wi-fi units. The B'ham city schools don't have wireless service. Nor do they have the technical staff to train the teachers. To me, this is putting the cart before the horse. That money could be better spent on text books, qualified-teacher recruiting, expanded academic programs, anti-drug, anti-pregnancy, and anti-gang programs, etc. Better fundamentals will yeild the best results, not laptops. Save the computer expense for high-school.
You can put a drassage saddle on a mule if you want to, but he still won't run the hurdle course.
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