OLPC - "eaten my homework"

[David Ecklein]

Has the need for expensive "rugged" textbooks been taken for granted?
Remember, we are discussing education in developing countries.

In the Philippines (especially outside of Manila), it has been common for
teachers to be the sole possessor of such  textbooks, aside from the school
library, from which it may have been borrowed.  He or she then reproduces
extracts on a mimeo and passes it out to the students as the lessons
dictate.  The students then have a copy of their own timely information -
rather than anyone investing in "rugged" books that get outdated after being
passed down just a few times to incoming students.  By the way, everything
rots in the Philippines, even "rugged" US-made textbooks.

In modern Greece, a society somewhere between the developing world and the
most advanced industrial countries, the use of "expensive rugged" school
textbooks is eschewed.  Every Greek student receives a cheaply printed
up-to-date book each year for each course.  These paperback books are
personal property of the students, and are not passed down - avoidance of
multiple serial abuse plus pride of ownership are enough to keep the book in
better condition.  See Alan Cromer "Connected Knowledge" (Oxford 1997).

Dave Ecklein



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Abreau" <jabr at blu.org>
To: "Ben Scott" <dragonhawk at gmail.com>
Cc: <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: OLPC - "eaten my homework"


> Ben Scott wrote:
>
> >
> >  Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, ten "books" of 200 pages
> > each, and 500,000 copies of each.  That's a total of 1,000,000,000
> > (one billion pages).  This is probably a big underestimate, but it
> > gives me some numbers to work with.  Based on the price progression
> > seen at http://www.nationalcolorcopy.com/ (first vendor found via
> > Google that published prices), we can expect 0.005 (one-half cent) per
> > page.  (I'd actually expect a better deal for a project of this
> > magnitude, but I wanted to cite a source.)  That works out to $1 per
> > book before binding.
>
> So you're saying someone who is knowledgeable about actual textbook
> production costs is wrong, because if you ignore the real-world
> costs he pointed out, you can imagine something completely inadequate
> for a cheaper price.
>
> I looked at nationalcolorcopy.com, and I see no indication that they
> produce anything as rugged as a textbook. Their low-cost manuals
> probably resemble a cheap paperback, and would likely fall apart and rot
> long before they reached their final recipients in the third world.
>
>
> -- 
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