PCs, Internet Access and Academic Achievement . . . A Bleak Philippine Picture

“Even if we gave every high school student in the Philippines a PC, that would not necessarily result in higher academic test scores”, so says my teacher friend and GILAS skeptic.  “You still have to reform the basic educational system.”  I can’t argue with that.  He’s right.  But I would say that it’s hard to [...]

GILAS At Drexel Univ. – FIND Conference

Thanks to Jesse Go, one of our volunteers, GILAS had a booth at the national conference of the Filipino Inter-Collegiate Network Dialogue (FIND), the largest Fil-Am student organization in North America.  We were able to pitch GILAS to the 700+ student delegates in attendance, which was held this year at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.  [...]

More GILAS / New York Marathon

Nel sent these great pictures of the New York marathon.   Everyone who’s run it tells me about the incredible rush they get on the Verazzano Bridge,  running with thousands of others from all over the world.  Note the GILAS patch on Nel’s shirt.   And take a look at the shot of the Verazzano packed with runners.  [...]

Filipino Develops Sub-$100 PC! Can GILAS Use It?

Right after I made my last post on using Puppy Linux on older PCs, I came across this very recent article in the Philippine Inquirer about a Filipino who developed his own sub-$100 PC!  The guy’s name is Rufino Mananghaya, and he is president of the Philippine e-learning Society.  Just goes to show – you [...]

Donate Your 486 PC? Huh?

I meet a lot of interesting people and learn a lot when I pitch GILAS.  And things are getting really interesting.  See the screenshot above?  It kinda looks like Windows, but it ain’t.  It’s the desktop of Puppy Linux, an operating system that promises to breathe life into older PCs.  It’s free, it’s got apps [...]

Nel Enriquez’s Marathon For GILAS

I posted Nel’s account of his marathon in its entirety below.  Really inspiring story!  I am super-psyched to run next year, hopefully with my sons.  BTW – take a look at the youtube video and you will empathize with Nel’s recounting of Mile 8, Mile 22 . . . Nel – congratulations, maraming salamat at [...]

Can GILAS Use Those New Sub-$100 PCs?

Another techie friend reminded me about the sub-$100 PC (see picture to your right) of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization.  “Didn’t you contact the folks at MIT about this?”, my friend asks.  Yes, I reply, but the minimum order quantity when I first contacted Nick Negroponte was 500,000 units.  I think it still [...]

Yes – We Need PCs In School! Why Can’t You Get It?

I don’t want to beat the proverbial dead horse . . . but I got into another debate without another Fil-Am who said he did not think it was such a big problem that our high school kids don’t have enough PCs and aren’t connected to the Internet. So here are a few more quotes [...]