[SLUG] Linux In Schools

[Chris More]

On Monday 01 May 2006 1:45 pm, Paul Teasdale wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Just read this on the BBC website:
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4960586.stm
> 
> 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.
> 
> Regards,
> Paul.
> 


The overall idea of your post.... Using linux in schools will save money.

If it were simply a matter of saving money then the answer is simply to remove 
all computers from schools.    But, of course, what schools are trying to do 
teach young people how technology is used and to bring them up to a standard 
that they can use in the workplace the most efficient way within their 
capabilities and funding. (actually it's more about results, but anyway..)

As someone who has two children in the school system at the moment I can 
honestly say I think they are doing a good job.   Both my children could use 
wordprocessing, spreadsheets and write complex Powerpoint presentations by 
the time they left primary school.    They currently do vast amounts of 
homework on the internet based SamLearning with projects and targets set by 
their teachers.

On the funding side I have a little inside knowledge.  Certain fundings have 
been available to schools for capital purchases of IT equipment.  In the past 
these tranches of cash HAD to be spent in a given time period or the funding 
was lost.   This meant there was no incentive to purchase cheaper capital 
based equipment as the school would not actually be saving any money by doing 
so.

We should aim to keep our kids on the leading edge of technology and not let 
them 'make do' with older machines running non-workplace software.   At 
secondary level  they have such a vast curriculum to cover the easiest, most 
usable and most common software is the only sensible option for the 
classroom.   Beyond the classroom... well, that's different.

Chris