Hi guys,
Sorry to differ again with the general opinion here. I am still not convinced that we need to give kids "a hundred dollar laptops" in order to make them learn better. My view is that children nowadays are informally trained to use computers at a very early age, thanks to the many play stations / XBoxes and smart phones + tablet computers available through their parents. I am also certain many of them get to use laptops at the same time for the same reasons. We really need to teach children just a little more to make them be fully comfortable with the use of other "advanced" computing equipment.
If the said "digital" dream is to be achieved by 2030, we should have already seen the fruits of this early exposure, and I believe we already are doing that but to smaller extents. Another thing we should really appreciate is that it took fifty years for the U.s of America to get the famous silicon valley to the point it is at now. Maybe they had no choice, even with their might, to get there now since fifty years is all they had between now and then ...... Nevertheless, let not building our "silicon savannah" be the primary objective but the creation of a population that is capable of clearly reasoning and fixing their own inadequacies, be it with the economy, society or technology.
As @Phares among a few others indicated, we really need to tackle the problem from another region. I really do not think the "One laptop per child" initiative came about as a result of serious discussions between the stakeholders in the education field and other parties. If this were the case, I suspect the actual issue with our education system could have been clearly pointed out in another direction. By simply working with the basics like well equipped libraries and labs, class rooms, good roads to schools, water and electricity, well trained and compensated teachers among others, good social amenities in schools, we will surely get there.
Martin.