Training and student laptops instead of bricks and mortar schools?

Very challenging words in the post linked below to the idea of a brick & mortar school. Haiti is the context of the post, but the argument is made for everyone, everywhere. I still think we need places to gather and share as a community. I agree schools do not have to be “military canteens” or “information cafeterias,” but I think schools are still needed as community learning hubs. I think the forms schools take can and should vary by community, rather than having the monolithic model of the 20th century. In a place like Haiti, after a huge disaster, perhaps there is a greater opportunity as well as obligation to re-invent schools than we have in less economically challenged areas?

Should the school change agenda be equally revolutionary, however, even if the economic circumstances are less stark? Thinking like this reminds me of educator John Holt. I wonder how many OLPC advocates share these views wholeheartedly? These are revolutionary ideas indeed.

Spend money on training and XO laptops instead of bricks and mortar schools

Timothy Falconer of the Waveplace Foundation is leading an amazing OLPC deployment in Haiti on a shoestring. He really has my respect with his Haiti rebuilding done right methodology. …

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