Better World or Something
All men are created equal. All men are created equal, in that they merit equal treatment under the law, equal opportunity, and equal rights. Now the primary impediment to the realization of this phrase, that can be extended to most countries in the world, is an inequality of opportunity. A child born in the slums of New Delhi does not have the same opportunity as a child born in the 16tharrondissement in Paris. Asides from financial resources and living conditions, the key differentiator is education. The quality and relevance of their respective educations will differ greatly. The child born in the slums will lack either a formal education or proper vocational training, reducing his/her future to a menial job and an existence driven by survival. This is the greatest driver of differences in opportunity and prosperity in different communities, regions, and countries.
Education is expensive, however. Paying for teachers, equipment, and a school is often unfeasible for the local governments, parents, and students. Therefore, millions of children around the world never realize their full potential due to lack of training and education. To level the playing field, technology can play an important part. A fully-online education system for developing countries that focuses on skillset development, vocational training, and personal skills (such as personal finance and sex education), can drastically better global student outcomes. Therefore, governments and parents would only have to finance a tablet ($100-$500) and WiFi (free-$200/year) to an average cost of $150/year for an education. To put this into perspective, the US government spends an average of $11k per year for each student. OECD countries spend an average of $9.5k per student. If this technological solution was privately built and scaled to cover major subjects for students in different languages (starting with English, French, Arabic, and Chinese), the total cost per student each year for a high-quality education can be brought down to less than $1k per student. This would make education more affordable and feasible in developing countries, levelling the playing field of opportunity.
So glad you posted! The idea of a better educational system is not a new one, but I really like your twist of technology. You are amazing with the stats and I really like how you compare your solution and its costs to what other countries spend.
ReplyDeleteHow do you imagine implementation to happen? Would a charity or foundation pay for the costs or do you hope to see governments do so?
Thanks for sharing!
-Kaela
I really enjoy your insight on this topic. If you are to push this new educational system to the next level, what are your plans for getting it off the ground. Do you plan to take investment to push your organziation. Your statistics seem quite feasable and they are a major part to sucess here. If you could get those numbers written down showing the 1k per student result, you should receive some great funding. Goodluck with your pitch!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting idea! I would first suggest training for people who do not know how to use technology. While it would level the playing field, people who have never seen a tablet before would have to catch up. Also, it would be critical for you to address how these devices would not become highly susceptible to being stolen and resold or used for other purposes. Giving a tablet to a highly underprivileged child anywhere in the world could easily make them a target because they now have something that is sought after. Aside from this, the concept is really interesting because you're right, so much can be learned cheaply online today.
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