[K12OSN] Good example of "concepts before specifics"

Steve Hargadon steve.hargadon at gmail.com
Wed Aug 31 18:22:10 UTC 2005


On 8/31/05, Terrell Prude' <microman at cmosnetworks.com> wrote:
> Every year, he says, kids come to school with
> less real knowledge of technology and its implications. So teachers have
> a greater responsibility if they don't want to produce simple
> "mouse-clicking monkeys".'


I've written a quick, two-page overview of thin client linux for
schools that addresses this issue on page two.  I can't send the document
(I tried and it kicked back as too large), but I'd be glad to send it
to anyone who
responds.  It's called, "How To Rescue A School Technology Program: 
Thin-client
Linux Overview."

Here's a quote from it below.  I'd love some feedback.  Tell me if you
think it is
on-target:

"More than ever, colleges and
businesses are indicating that fewer and fewer students are coming out
of school with adequate computer technical skills—at the very time
that computers have become more widely available in schools.  This is
because the focus on Windows(r) and commercial (or "proprietary")
software that has dominated school teaching environments does not
easily allow for the teaching of computer and programming skills.  Not
only is there an expense to the commercial software, but most of the
code of that software is protected, or hidden, thereby eliminating
some of the most significant aspects of learning that might take
place.  The students are then trained in what appear to be complex
programs, but are actually learning skills that the business world
would classify as "clerical."  There is another unfortunate
consequence to this model.  Not all students who learn to use a $500
program on a $1000 computer are likely to be able to afford those on
their own after they graduate, putting them in the position of not
being able to continue to practice their skills, or potentially
pressuring them to use "pirated" versions of the software.  Open
Source programming software, which is 1) free, 2) as highly regarded
as any commercial software, and 3) able to run on older computer
hardware, becomes the logical choice for the teaching environment, but
does not have the marketing dollars behind it which drive the adoption
of commercial software by schools.  The exodus of programming jobs
from the United State to India and other lower-income countries would
appear to be a direct result of their ability to learn those programs
which are most needed, not those which have been most vigorously
marketed.  Linux and thin-client Linux have typically been considered
only by schools that have hit a financial impasse and have been forced
to search for an alternative; only then do they discover that it is
often not just better for the school because of price, but also
because of the end-result of its use."

-- 
Steve Hargadon
916-899-1400 direct
www.technologyrescue.com




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