One Laptop Per Child in Birmingham

I've previously made a pitch for the XO laptops for the schoolchildren of Memphis. Thanks to a link from Justin, I see that Birmingham, a city with a very similar history, is making the leap.

One Laptop Per Child doesn't dump raw commercial technology in the laps (literally) of children. The laptop, from concept to configuration, embodies a complete vision of learning from MIT's Media Lab, based on the principles of constructionism.

I wonder whether the traditional consumer model of primary and secondary education is too boring for those who don't have the proverbial carrot or stick pull/pushing them forward. When adolescent independence hits them, they light off like Huckleberry Finn for the territory. A curriculum, and city, based on doing and creating might help bring them back.