[K12OSN] Open Office

[Shane Stafford]

"Support list for open source software in schools." <k12osn at redhat.com> on
Friday, September 22, 2006 at 10:26 AM -0500 wrote:
There is also another angle to take on this.  I am on a school board and
the superintendent tend to believe this argument, somewhat.  So, we are
using Open Office/NeoOffice K-8 and there is a business lab in the 9-12
that teaches Microsoft Office.  We all know the kids won't really care
about the difference, so they learn Open Office/Neo Office all the way
thru 8th grade.  Then in High School if the school really still believes
it must teach Microsoft, then let it.  The K-8 students will become a
force for change in High School.  Plus, some battles must be won in
phases. Have I given up on the dicussions about Open Office schoolwide,
nope, but at least we have made that switch K-8.
>
>
>Bob McCaa wrote:
>> This has been a contention point in our district over the adoption of
>> OSS:  Applications vs. Concepts.
>> 
>> Our Technology Coordinator feels that "the world" uses Microsoft
>> products, so that is what we should teach.  "Word Processing" means
>> using Microsoft Word, "Spreadsheets" means using Microsoft Excel, and
>> "Database" means using Microsoft Access.
>> 
>> I believe in teaching the concepts:  If you teach the concept over the
>> application, the concept will carry over to the next generation when the
>> application is invalidated by time.
>> 
>> What happens when the student graduates, gets a job, and the employer is
>> running Linux to reduce the TCO?
>> 



Shane Stafford
Director Information Services 
Maine School Union 90
(Alton,Bradley,Greenbush,Milford)
sstafford at union90.org