OLPC Success in Peru

The results are beginning to arrive in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, dreamed up by Nicholas Negroponte, for units that were delivered to children in Peru six months ago. OLPC's are designed to be simple to operate, resistant to basic damage and require minimal resources to function. Teachers receive a few short days of training to integrate the devices into their lesson plans which allow students access to the Internet (where possible). Valid fears have been voiced by educators that are worried their student's techno savvy will grow so quickly that teachers will be unable to keep up and guide them. The country hopes that increasing the baseline education level will help future workers migrate out of the rural outreaches into the cities in order to effectively jumpstart the economy with an understanding of technology and the modern world. Through the OLPC program, many students are already expressing their desires to not be like their parents - field workers with no chance or opportunity for growth.

When dealing with nations of extreme poverty and limited resources, does opening the eyes of children lead to an economic bootstrapping or does it simply let the children know what they'll never have?

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