I Want To Teach Programming In The Developing World By MichaelCrawford in Technology Thu Mar 06, 2008 at 07:44:13 AM EST Tags: Teaching, Education, Computer Programming, Software Engineering, One Laptop Per Child, XO, Engineers Without Borders, Esther Dyson, The Developing World (all tags)
	I know you're all going to think I'm manic, but I'm not. I sent the following email just now to Angela Bonilla, who was my piano teacher in Vancouver. Angela is from the South American nation of Colombia. She was embarrassed to tell me that; she said "Americans don't like Colombians", no doubt because of the cocaine smuggled from there. It is also known for its coffee. It is a deeply troubled nation, having faced an insurgency from a guerilla organization known as FARC for several decades; there is some possibility that Venezuela and Ecuador might go to war with Colombia, because Colombia attacked a FARC encampment in Ecuadorian territory. I'm not sure yet that I will pursue the course I outline in my letter to Angela, but I do know that I have been considering it in a serious way, in different forms, for about fifteen years. I'm submitting this as a story, and not just a diary, in part because I hope for a more in-depth discussion than a diary would provoke, and in part because I invite those who read this to consider joining me. Perhaps some of you can suggest solutions to the problems I discuss within. Perhaps this story will be just the first in a series.

Dear Angela, There is a non-profit foundation called One Laptop Per Child that sells a very low-cost laptop known as the XO for use in schools by children. Their aim is for every child in the world to own their own computer. Usually a nation orders tens or hundreds of thousands of them all at once for its schoolchildren, often aided by charitable donations. Their website is www.laptop.org Their vision is explained on this page. The computers come with free educational software that has been very carefully and expertly designed to be both enjoyable and useful to young children. For a long time now - much longer than One Laptop Per Child has been around - I've had the idea of teaching computer programming as a way to help others make better lives for themselves. I first had this idea after the fall of the Soviet Union; I wanted to go to Russia to help start a software industry there that could sell their products to the West. One day I met a woman named Esther Dyson, who herself was working with the new Russian software industry. When I explained my idea, she grabbed my arm with both hands and said "Russia needs you!" But my idea went nowhere, and for no good reason. Basically I chickened out. It just wasn't the right time for me. I started thinking about this again when I saw a picture of the entire Earth taken at night. It was stitched together from many satellite photographs. Notice where all the lights are - the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Japan. But look at the dark areas: much of South America, almost all of Africa. Many people live there, but they are unable to light up their streets at night. They don't have electricity, or if they do, they can't afford to pay for street lighting. I interviewed with the Google search engine around the same time I interviewed for my current job. They had a similar map of the Earth in their lobby, but it showed a real-time display of the distribution of search queries from all around the world. It looked much like the photo above: the industrialized world was brightly lit, but Africa and South America were dark. I've never had a clear idea as to how I'd go about it, but for some time now I've wanted to go to the developing world to teach children how to program computers. My aim would be to enable them to start software businesses in their home countries, that would sell their products to the industrialized world, to earn hard currency that they could use to make better lives for themselves. Shortly after India became independent of Britain, a University called the Indian Institutes of Technology was founded. There are seven campuses. IIT improved to the point that it is the equal of any American or Canadian engineering school. The result is that India now has many software engineering companies, some with thousands of employees, that develop software for sale throughout the world, thereby bringing vast wealth into what was once an impoverished nation. I just turned forty-four years old. I'm starting to feel my age; I don't have the energy I once did and I will need to get reading glasses because I can't see close up anymore. For some time now I have realized that, for all my hard work as a software engineer, I've never created much of value to leave behind after I'm gone. None of the software I have ever written will outlast me. The best I can say for my twenty-year career is that I made some already-wealthy people much more wealthy. The only really valuable thing I have ever done was to write Living with Schizoaffective Disorder. That has made a big difference in the lives of many mentally ill people, as well as their loved ones and the doctors and nurses who treat the mentally ill. Today I wrote to the One Laptop Per Child project to ask if they could help me with my idea. I also wrote to Engineers Without Borders. I'm still waiting to hear their responses. For several years, my idea for a legacy has been to compose music that might live on for centuries. But it's going to take me many years of study before I can write such music. While I still intend to pursue my music, teaching software engineering is something that I can do much sooner, and that will make more of a difference to people who are alive today, people who otherwise might not find much to hope for in their lives. I'm a very good computer programmer, and I know how to teach as well - I've been a teacher on two occasions, and they both worked out really well. What I don't know is how to get started. There are some problems: one is that I require daily medication for my mental illness; without it I'd be stark-raving mad. So I can't go anyplace too remote. The other is that I have many financial obligations, that I couldn't meet on the pay teachers typically earn. I have some ideas as to how to deal with that, but just ideas so far. I intended at first to go to Africa, but it occurred to me just now that if I went to Latin America instead, I could drive my car there. That would make it easier to bring my possessions - I won't go without my piano keyboard - and to have transportation once I'm there. Perhaps I could start in your home country of Colombia. OLPC has a web page about their efforts there - it's in Spanish. I also don't speak Spanish - I'd have to learn it. Besides teaching children, I aim to also teach other teachers, so they can pass the knowledge on to their own students. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it's a good idea? Do you think it would work? If I came back to Vancouver, could you teach me Spanish? The One Laptop Per Child computers are already set up to enable the students to teach themselves a programming language called Python. But there's a huge gap between what the computer presently enables, and what it would take to make a successful career as a software engineer. I aim to close that gap. My phone number is $WOULDNT_YOU_LIKE_TO_KNOW if you want to discuss this over the phone. Your Student, Mike hotcoder@gmail.com I have since heard back from Engineers Without Borders. While they were quite supportive of my idea, they said it was quite outside the scope of what they do. But they encouraged me to pursue it. My hope for dealing with my financial obligations is to find some funding agency that can give me a grant sufficient to service my debts while I'm away. Living expenses wherever I end up would be much less than in Silicon Valley where I live now; I wouldn't need much personally just to get by. I have the idea that my qualifications as a software engineer would make a convincing argument in obtaining funding. The Other Site I started a rather long Slashdot thread on this topic yesterday. I posted it initially out of idle curiousity as to whether one could develop software on the XO laptop, but as the discussion continued I grew increasingly excited about the possibility of pursuing it seriously. Am I Selling Out My Brothers? chlorus raises the objection: Now, i'm no codemonkey, but if i were, i would be exceedingly pissed off that you were trying to train insanely cheap third world labor to do my job. Yes, I agree completely that it's not patriotic, and could well be considered un-American. But I've been one of the downtrodden, stigmatized people. I know what it's like to have to do without while at the same time witnessing the obscene wealth of others. I'm also not at all impressed by the unabashed materialism of many I've met in the software industry. My aim is to enable those who are hungry, who die young because they lack clean water and sanitation, whose societies are torn apart from the drug trade, to earn the money they need to grow food, to purify water and process waste, and to make a good living for themselves by the sweat of their own brows, rather than having to beg for handouts. I aim to teach a man to fish so we don't need to give him fish anymore.

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Slashdot Google XO www.laptop .org this page free educational software Esther Dyson a picture of the entire Earth taken at night Google search engine Indian Institutes of Technology for all my hard work as a software engineer I made some already-wealthy people much more wealthy Living with Schizoaffective Disorder Engineers Without Borders. my idea for a legacy has been to compose music that might live on for centuries my music stark-raving mad many financial obligations a web page about their efforts there Python hotcoder@g mail.com my qualifications as a software engineer a rather long Slashdot thread the objection Also by MichaelCrawford