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Zuckerberg and Gates-Backed Startup Seeks To Shake Up African Education
theodp writes The WSJ reports an army of teachers wielding Nook tablets and backed by investors including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg is on a mission to bring cheap [$6.50/month], internet-based, private education to millions of the world's poorest children in Africa and Asia. In Kenya, 126,000 students are enrolled at 400+ Bridge International Academies that have sprung up across the country since the company was founded in 2009. Bridge's founders are challenging the long-held assumption that governments rather than companies should lead mass education programs. The Nook tablets are used to deliver lesson plans used by teachers (aka "scripted instruction"), as well as to collect test results from students to monitor their progress."
The school I support in Zambia is happy just to get pencils and pens. They have no use for anything electronic.We are working to get them enough electricity to have a light on when it gets dark. Sometimes we in the west have no idea the rudimentary conditions some folks live in.
Small Part Native American here. Grandpa and mom are buried on the Res.
Not that my heritage should matter, but some people can't hear the message until they've decided what bucket to put the messenger in....
How is the way of life and/or world view of the Native Americans worth saving?
Same question for impoverished rural Africans?
We are having this conversation only because an objectively superior culture with an objectively superior propensity for technical development has built this amazing medium for our use.
My ancestors were excellent hunters, excellent farmers, and excellent stewards of natural resources. There are many things to admire and respect about what they did.
Ultimately, however, I'm glad I don't live in a house made of animal skin; I'm glad I have modern medicine; I'm glad my other ancestors - my white European ones - have shot themselves into space, and have opened a way for my children to someday get off this rock.
In many ways, Humans of all colors and shapes are still participating in the tribal violence that shaped native Americans and still shapes many Africans.
Some tribes are better run than others, with better results to show for it. Adapt or die.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Missionary work is ultimately what got native Americans.
Comparing Africa to the Americas is very misleading. Native American populations were decimated by Old World diseases. That didn't happen in Africa, where natives had long been exposed to smallpox, measles, etc. In fact, their greater resistance to many tropical diseases, which disproportionately killed white colonists, helped protect them. If you look at Africa today, the areas that are the most prosperous, are those areas where colonialism was deep and pervasive, leaving behind strong institutions, and economies linked to the wider world. The least prosperous areas are those with little colonial influence, especially isolated inland areas.
The biggest mistake they made was giving up their way of life and their world view.
The opposite is true. By any objective measure, those that gave up tribalism and adopted western ways, are doing the best. If you look at income, infant mortality, maternal mortality, violence, longevity, nutrition, literacy, health, sexual abuse, alcoholism, or any other measure you can think of, tribal societies are at the absolute bottom.