EDUCATION

TO call this situation perverse, to ascribe it to the principle of unintended consequences, is to be, if anything, too reasonable.

One Laptop per Child, which has the support of the United Nations Development Program, aims to provide laptops to school-aged children worldwide at a cost of about $100 per computer. It has also reached tentative purchase agreements with Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria and Thailand.

Its purpose is to provide the public and policymakers with information to assess and improve postsecondary education in each state.

71% of Americans believe that "our nation’s public high schools are coming up short or falling behind in efforts to put students on the path to compete for highly
technical scientific and engineering jobs with their counterparts from other countries."

"California has a window of opportunity to prepare the highly educated work force we need to maintain our position as an economic leaders," said Bill Hauck, president of the California Business Roundtable, at a press conference this spring. "If California fails to provide this work force in time, we are likely to lose the edge we now have over other states and international competitors."

In the 1960s and 1970s, when California public schools produced scores indicating high-achieving students, spending per pupil here exceeded the national average by about $400 a pupil, RAND said. Beginning in the 1980s, California lagged

the nation in spending per pupil. Now, it spends about $1,000 less per student than the national average.