[SLUG] Re: Linux in schools

[Bob Garrood]

On Tuesday 02 May 2006 12:15,  Paul wrote:

> I'm no expert on the school curriculum but what I do know is that Linux can
> be used to 'extend' the shelf life of older equipment. I happily use Linux
> on an older Pentium III 733Mhz, 256Mb RAM, 30Gb HDD with the more 'bloated'
> KDE desktop (in comparison with other Linux desktop environments) and it's
> very useable for all the tasks that I want to achieve.
>
> I'm sure that there is a large amount of politics involved in this issue
> and schools running Linux wouldn't solve all of the headaches for teachers
> and administrators but I'm sure it would help. Surely it would save council
> tax payers some money too on the likes of software licences. It also gives
> pupils a chance to see that there is more to computers than just Microsoft
> giving them a chance to form an opinion.


Hi Paul

Your equipment and OS is very close to mine, and I agree with every point you 
make. I have not worked in schools for about 4 years (apart from a few weeks 
supply), so I am not up to date, but I can add 2 more observations.

Most schools run on a variety of different MS operating systems from windows 
95 on, and various versions of Office. Since standardisation is important 
Linux would be very helpful, especially as expenditure cuts are expected.  
You can put KDE 3.4 which is less than 1 year old on a 300MHz laptop with 64M 
and it will run quite well.  So all your computers can run the same operating 
system.

Schools have been told by BECTA, in a report published last year, that they 
must move to open standards over the next 5 years.  There are no signs that 
schools read BECTA reports. With KDE comes KOffice.  Most students use only a 
tiny fraction of Office's potential.  KOffice is open standard, much 
friendlier, and fits on older systems.   

It seems that people who run schools have a mindset that does not admit any 
alternative to MS.  To be fair they have a lot of other things to do.  
Alternatives mean spending time and money on computing expertise and 
training.  So they fall back on MS.

For the paranoid I should add that encouraging open source is the 
responsibility of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.  

Bob