Money Better Spent

I have to agree with Bortnyk that providing these tools will bring these children nowhere. All of these resources do seem more like an altruistic gesture that is more suitable for a corporation to feel good about doing their part for the world. This leads to a discussion I once had with my wife who expressed a desire to establish non-profit schools for children around the world.

What will the schools / technology actually give these kids? Playing the devil\'s advocate, I have to say it only leads them to a bitter disgust of first world countries. Prior to external influence, the child probably did not really have an idea of what was out there. The dreams for a better life were likely more realistic, a few steps up from their present situation. Now, you have a first world influence talking about computers, industrial revolution, the power of math, being able to read and write, history as a stepping block forward, etc. Great, what does the kid do with this education at \'graduation.\' Back to subsistence farming. Back to laboring for hours to make a pittance for food & clothes. They don\'t need this. They need either pure vocational skills or resources with which to manufacture a product. $100 million dollars would better be spent constructing factories or other employment centers for people to actually get legitimately paying jobs whereupon a basis for an economy can be founded.

They say give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Teach him to fish and then take all the raw materials for making fishing possible away and you have one pissed off man that still cannot eat.

Star This to Save in Your Profile