From Nigeria to Marin County, Adolescent Boys Really, Really Enjoy Free Laptop Computers
posted at 4:33 pm on July 21, 2007 by see-dubya
Your tax dollars at work:
Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Thursday.
Surprise, surprise. A similar free-laptop program in Marin County, written up last month, suggested that such technology would result in “more hands-on learning“. It also noted that the federal government didn’t think too much of their use in schools:
But a study in March by the U.S. Department of Education found no demonstrable link between educational software and higher test scores, putting laptop advocates on the defensive. A stream of news articles focused on school districts in New York and Florida that dumped laptop programs, citing high costs, misuse by students and the unfavorable results raised in the federal study.
So if the feds aren’t so sure about the educational advantages of free laptops, why are we sending them to Nigeria? Is it just a goodwill gesture? I’m not necessarily opposed to extravagant goodwill gestures in diplomacy–the Statue of Liberty is nice, after all–but if the object here is to develop basic education within an allied nation, this might not be the best way to reach the objective.
And while I’m all for teaching computer literacy, my inbox suggests that a large portion of the Nigerian population already understands the basics of e-mail, as well as complex international financial transactions. It’s like…providing Palestinian children with chemistry sets.
Blowback
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Maybe they need to install a better “pop-up blocker”….OK, * really boo’s self*
Still find it hard to believe people actually fell for that scam.
Either way, why are US tax dollars going to support the “education” of children there…when many of our own schools are in dire need of attention?
JetBoy on July 21, 2007 at 4:42 PM
Nigeria, please!
ScottMcC on July 21, 2007 at 5:11 PM
Too funny!
nosliwelyk on July 21, 2007 at 5:13 PM
maybe allahpundit can have on of these computers instead of an iphone, much more cost effective way to surf porn.
zane on July 21, 2007 at 5:19 PM
These computers only went to Son’s, Daughters and Wives of men who have died and left a lot of money in foreign banks. They are needed so they can email you, to contact you to hold the money for them so their govt does not take it away.
StuLongIsland on July 21, 2007 at 5:33 PM
As a teacher, I don’t think there is a need for computers in the classroom. The costs to maintain them is astronomical. Most school systems don’t want to pay tech people more than their teachers, so they end up with fresh-out-of-high-school kids or college students. Also, dealing with Mr. Gates and the Microshaft licensing fees are a hassle. Our system uses iMacs, but Apple is notorious for having crappy hardware. Over the past ten years, I’ve seen a gazillion Macs bite the dust. Our tech staff has to work over-time to keep them going. Many school systems are giving Gates the bird and switching over to Ubuntu–because it’s free and user friendly.
On a side note, the Israeli government did an extensive study a few years ago concerning over-all learning/grades to computer use. There was no significant change in knowledge. Well, except for one area–math scores actually FELL due to the use of computers. This is all Bill Clinton’s fault, with his “21st century classroom” crap.
Well, gotta go, I’m missing out on pr0n.
robblefarian on July 21, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Let’s see.
1) You give young boys computers.
2) You basically let them surf the web unsupervised.
What did these morons expect to happen?
Kowboy on July 21, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Even Nigerian kids know the internet is for porn.
Bad Candy on July 21, 2007 at 5:47 PM
What F$%k! Over?
Are they trying to train the next wave of scammers, spammers, and cyber terrorist.
For cryin’ out load!
TheSitRep on July 21, 2007 at 5:48 PM
Man, my tax dollars can’t do anything right…
BadgerHawk on July 21, 2007 at 5:53 PM
The web blocker at my job won’t even let me look at my fantasy league baseball team because of the word fantasy!!!
Joey1974 on July 21, 2007 at 6:04 PM
I teach computer literacy for a living. Computers do absolutely NOTHING for the education of a child beyond basic typing/word processing/research skills. Almost all of my students learn how to touch type after a semester with me (owing to my mad skills as an instructor) but I would never say that it makes them smarter. You’ll notice who is giving away computers… COMPUTER companies.
The idea of every child being a better student because he has a laptop is rediculous. If you want to create porn addicts and online gaming addicts then fine. It does that really well.
BTW I’m blocked at work too.
Mojave Mark on July 21, 2007 at 6:42 PM
Let’s see… You give adolescent boys a porn machine and tell them not to look. I can’t figure out what went wrong.
imshocked on July 21, 2007 at 6:47 PM
Mojave Mark
It’s a good thing you teach computer literacy and not spelling.
Sorry, that was a low blow but I couldn’t resist.
imshocked on July 21, 2007 at 6:55 PM
Well, you’re missing the point here.
So let me translate the story for you:
The Nigerian government fears nothing more than better educated children, so they built a pretense for installing filters on the laptops. The actual filter list will be maintained by well-meaning government officials and shall include for a start websites which: promote democracy and a basic understanding of human rights, and which might or might not criticize the Nigerian government now or in the future.
Niko on July 21, 2007 at 7:21 PM
I knew there was a reason for the surge in Nigerian 419 scam emails lately. It’s good to see our tax dollars being put to such good use.
Buzzy on July 21, 2007 at 7:24 PM
Get ready for Mac attacks.
Sub-Saharan style
profitsbeard on July 21, 2007 at 7:55 PM
Oh, I’m sure throwing _free_ laptops to poor kids around the world will improve our image and regard to them as much as CARE packages have.
One wonders how the pre-laptop world ever racked up the kinds of impressive scholastic scores that makes many educators cry today. Drill kids the 3Rs and throw them computers in high school — if warranted. Shouldn’t take a well-educated child more than a week to access the web to _augment_ their current knowledge, but till then learn to communicate with a 3-d teacher before a flat screen. Even here, it’s crazy to think computers instantly gives kids an “edge” when a super info source in their own neighborhoods are used as after-school social halls most the time — the public library.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
jamesgreenidge on July 21, 2007 at 8:23 PM
Oh, gosh, I’ve been skeptical all along of the value of technology in the classroom as re: enhancing learning, but try telling that to the schools around here. I am just loving reading these postings! Computers are a tool, like a dictionary or a thesaurus, and contribute about as much, no more. I refused to send my daughter to one school here because they require laptops for all students, and I felt like she didn’t need the extra hassle of keeping up with her computer, running the spyware software every week, etc. etc. She does her homework the old-fashioned way – paper and pen.
reine.de.tout on July 21, 2007 at 8:49 PM
So I guess they ran out of stuff to teach with BOOKS?
Although, I could understand some kind of tablet thing whose only usage could be for viewing digitized texts. Wouldn’t that save on paper? I have no idea.
nottakingsides on July 21, 2007 at 9:15 PM
Why save paper it’s a totally renewable resource and the main reason there are more trees in the US now than in 1900? This is way too much about pouring money into education to make up for too many shoddy teachers indoctrinating students with far left politics instead of teaching them reading, writing and arithmetic.
Buzzy on July 21, 2007 at 10:08 PM
Wanna mess with a foreign country? Export
liberalismLarry Flynt.RushBaby on July 21, 2007 at 10:14 PM
Food for thought.
- The Cat
MirCat on July 21, 2007 at 10:21 PM
Glad you are not near my kids, but then they probably know more about computers than the sad people in education.
Wade on July 21, 2007 at 10:47 PM
Obligatory.
NSFW, Content Warning, and Keep away from Grandma.
- The Cat
MirCat on July 21, 2007 at 10:56 PM
???
Given that comment, I’m the one who’s glad that I don’t teach your kids.
The statistics are quite clear to back up what I’m saying. People who believe that computers improve the basic education of a child are deceiving themselves. If you want your kid to be smarter get them music lessons. That HAS proven to improve I.Q. and study skills down the road.
Yah, we all need to learn how to type but in a middle school setting (where I’m at) there’s not much else use for a computer. They’re helping to dumb down our children.
Mojave Mark on July 21, 2007 at 11:36 PM
Laptops don’t help education in the least (Yes, I teach so shut up….).
Even with the blocked sites, just go to Google type in “naked girls”. Use the cache feature and you got porn. How do I know? Kids do it all the time at my school.
If they aren’t doing that, they are going to Yahoo…No, not for news, but music videos…
Tim Burton on July 21, 2007 at 11:40 PM
Computers actually make people lazy in many regards, including intellectually, physically, and emotionally.
As a former system administrator, I can attest they certainly don’t make the average user smarter! Thus the typical disdain we have for end users! ;)
synycalwon on July 22, 2007 at 12:39 AM
I’m confused. There’s porn on the internet?
Kevin M on July 22, 2007 at 1:24 AM
I don’t believe it. You can’t put boobs into a series of tubes.
Kevin M on July 22, 2007 at 1:25 AM
Kevin M, I’m soooo tempted to link a picture of girls lined up in tube tops you have no idea.
- The Cat
P.S. Or News caster headshots.
MirCat on July 22, 2007 at 1:33 AM
Duh. Wish I had one of those.
pat on July 22, 2007 at 3:26 AM
THIS is the exact reason that I spent ~$2000 (I had just graduated HS and had saved $$$$) on a high end PC in 1991. It lasted less than two years before I had to get something better. Nothing ever changes.
mojojojo on July 22, 2007 at 5:52 AM
… Meant to add, I wish the Guv’ment bought it for me instead of spending my own $$$$…
mojojojo on July 22, 2007 at 5:53 AM
Mojave Mark, I have to disagree with you somewhat.
Depending upon the age (pre-school, for example), computers can give an edge. I have 3 children. When the oldest was about to enter kindergarten, I purchased “reading rabbit,” and “mathblaster,” and a couple additional educational games. Each child tested out ahead of the norm for kindergarten and above when they started, thanks to their game playing. In fact, my youngest, by the time she entered kindergarted, was reading and doing math at the 2nd grade level.
Given that expertise in computer skills is essential to enter today’s job market, the ability to use word processing, spreadsheets, data bases, and so on, is considered a requirement for most, if not all, employers. So your efforts are not wasted.
HOWEVER, having said that, it is specialization in careers that require the use of cad-cam (any pre-engineering program), designing relational databases (any pre-computer science program), or similar, that gives an advantage to the job seeker. But we’re not talking at the elementary or middle-school level here, either.
Computers are a tool. They, by themselves, make no “magic.” It is the knowledge on how to use the tool that makes knowledge of computers invaluable.
Having had an adolescent male growing up with computers, I can tell you that “blocking” inappropriate material (tr. PORN!) is essentially impossible, even for a networking specialist such as myself. Where there is a will, there will be a way, and we found the way to deal with it was “socially” and not “technically.”
As to the utility of word processing, I can testify that if word processing and/or computer graphic charting tools existed back when I was in high school and college, I would have cheerfully slit a throat or two to get my hands on it. Just the ability to adjust amount of text on the page to insure proper footnoting, and spell checking, would have made my life so much easier.
georgej on July 22, 2007 at 6:22 AM
The libs have achieved what they want: ONE WORLD COMMUNITY SURFING PORN, TOGETHER.
Metro on July 22, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Given your advanced vocabulary and obvious intelligence I’d say that your kids are smart because mom & dad are smart. By what you say, you’re obviously actively involved in your children’s upbringing and consider it your job to educate them. Bravo! Give me a room full of kids like yours any day.
Now, imagine a household where mom is stuck raising the kids all by herself. The father of the children has abandoned them. Or imagine an unloving, chaotic home where the parents are together. Even if they have the same software that you do at home I guarantee that those kids will do worse on the same tests. Even if their I.Q. is the same. For children the home is EVERYTHING.
The reason that’s true is because educational bureaucracies refuse to acknowledge the importance of a stable home. (That’s not their action line. The action line is “we need more money.”) That’s why a home schooling mom who never even graduated high school herself will raise kids that perform WAY above the public school average.
In public education we keep looking for that which was lost in the wrong place. It’s like the old joke where a guy loses a quarter in one corner of a room but looks for it in another corner. Someone asks “Why are you looking for your quarter in this corner when you lost it in the other corner?” The man responds, “Because the light is better over here.” THAT is public education. This laptop nonsense is merely a microcosm of public education in general.
IMHO we should give parents vouchers and let them send their kid to any school they want. That paradigm change would salvage education.
Mojave Mark on July 22, 2007 at 12:30 PM
Only if they are given to all children. If not, it’s just another way to screw the middle class. The poor kids get vouchers and the rich kids can already afford private school, so the middle class pays tons of the taxes to make this happen and then their kids are the only kids in crowded classrooms.
hollygolightly on July 22, 2007 at 1:05 PM
Agreed. I’m not talking about vouchers only for “failing” schools. I’m talking for a universal voucher system. Parents choose the school, period. If some public schools can survive the competition, then fine. I’ve been a public school teacher for 26 years and the system is unfixable.
Mojave Mark on July 22, 2007 at 1:14 PM
“This laptop nonsense is merely a microcosm of public education in general”
Mojave Mark
Spot on. Laptops are putting lipstick on a pig.
I’m not sure I can whole-heartedly agree that the system is beyond repair, as the most glaring need I see has rarely been addressed, that being removal of the disruptor from the school system.
Holly, the situation is daunting, but even in the scarier schools there is often AP coursework that removes your kid from the thugland underbelly.
In high school, many school boards have dual enrollment or even early admission relationships with the local Juco. God knows I feel for the parent(s) of those kids who attend Gangbanger high, but with foresight, planning and a little good fortune one can avoid some of the problem areas on the road to graduation.
agape,
robb
wuzrobbd on July 22, 2007 at 4:46 PM
Hey people, I’m actually Nigerian and I don’t like the Nigerai bashing going on here. yes, I grew in Nigeria and went to school there. I think the laptop program is a very good one, cus fundamentally, many of the kids there want to learn, but the opportunities are not as much as you have here.
I don’t think it’s OK to condemn a whole program, because of a few mistakes by kids. Bottomline is that kids will be kids, and can always find a porn site if they look hard enough. I mean, it’s no that hard to find, by the way since anybody with an email adress gets tons of porn email.
I’m really not down with the bashing.
Chudi on July 22, 2007 at 6:55 PM
I think it’s not as much Nigeria bashing as it is commenting on the irony of it all. Kinda like if Romania came up with a new way to do a blood transfusion.
BTW, to all the people talking about how Laptops don’t help education. . .You remind me of my Grandfather knocking the calculator I had for pre-calculus in high school. It’s the same mentality of those back in the day who said, “You don’t need no car, just walk to work.” Computers in school are like pencils and books used to be. They are tools. It’s all about how you use them.
- The Cat
P.S. As for back in the graphite age, boys just drew dirty pictures.
MirCat on July 22, 2007 at 7:34 PM
“We” aren’t. This isn’t a U.S. government programe, it’s a private non-profit:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Our_team
jic on July 22, 2007 at 8:22 PM
But guess which way math scores went after the introduction of calculators. Hint: they didn’t go up.
I’m not knocking computers, they are useful tools. Where would HA be without them? My point is that some believe that by merely providing a computer for a child you have improved his education, and that’s not true. A computer is merely a tool as you say but it is nothing more.
Mojave Mark on July 23, 2007 at 11:54 AM
That is because a child needs to learn how to think before they learn how to use a tool, otherwise, they only learn to use the tool only in the manner they were taught, and never think beyond its previous use.
Sensei Ern on July 23, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Yeah and the ability to ploy by hand dropped when they invented tractors. :P
- The Cat
MirCat on July 23, 2007 at 12:50 PM