[K12OSN] Good example of "concepts before specifics"

[Petre Scheie]

How about adding it to the wiki, at http://www.k12ltsp.org/phpwiki/index.php/Presentations

Petre

Steve Hargadon wrote:
> 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."
>