[SLUG] Linux In Schools

[Stephen O'Neill]

Chris More wrote:
> 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.   

Here here.

> In the past 
> these tranches of cash HAD to be spent in a given time period or the funding 
> was lost. 

And they have to be spent in certain areas - usually there are 
government bodies who are dishing out the money who have a certain area 
of the market that they're in charge of improving. So only their 
approved list of suppliers are eligible for consideration.

There is no 'Linux' corporation that goes and 
lobbies/badgers/simpers/changes Linux just to get on those lists. So 
they never will.

> 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.  
[snip]
> Beyond the classroom... well, that's different.

Exactly, good point - that's where my suggestion about needing to be 
clear about which battle ground your fighting for/against is important. 
I think that the advocacy of Linux for older machines was perhaps 
slanted at underfunded IT departments in schools trying to make 
LDAP/file servers last another year.

I also think that breadth is important - leaving school without MS 
knowledge would mean you'd get laughed out of a job interview as you 
didn't know how to use powerpoint, but that shouldn't mean that children 
are only taught MS.

Steve O

		
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