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Linux & Education - How To Get It For Your School
r-jae asks: "I've noticed there's been a bit of discussion on the topic of Linux in Education on /. recently. As a high school student, how I could improve the situation at my school? Today in Software Development, my class were discussing software licensing. I was asked to name any license that I could think of. I mentioned the GPL, and my teacher looked at me as if I were green and had antennae. When I described it to her, she passed me off as if I were off my rocker. So my question is, how can I possibly change this situation? How can I convince the faculty to include a unit of Linux, or free software, in the course? "
Well, given the fact that 99% of the teaching and administrative staff in the schools know either Macintosh or Windows, it isn't surprising you got that response.
You need to educate them the same way they educate you. Get together statistics about the usage of Linux and Apache. Put together a packet of information describing what Linux and free software is. Get a copy of the GPL and the LGPL, and find a good, non-technical description of what they are and why they are good. If you have a Linux system, arrange to demonstrate what Linux is and what it can to. You might even have an extra credit project here. Try contacting RedHat, VA Linux, Suse, and others and see if they have any literature they can send you.
Good Luck!
-- Error: Cannot find file REALITY.SYS - Universe halted, please reboot!
I'm not sure that there is anything you can do. First, in my experience, schools have very old computers- circa 1988. I learned to program on TRS-80s. I was told that Pascal was an ideal scientific language, and COBOL the language of business. They'd heard of C and C++, but considered it 'too difficult' (after COBOL, no less!) This is current as of the early 90's.
The old saying that 'those who can't do, teach' isn't usually true, I find. CS in public schools is one area where it is. If you want to be rewarded for doing a good job, not be bullied around by your union, get paid decently, not be micromanaged ridiculously by the state, and feel like you are actually accomplishing something, try the private sector.
Are there solutions? Yes, but they're out of the scope of your question. Your immediate problem is giving your teachers some clue about what has been going on in CS in the last 10-20 years. Which is virtually everything.
One possibility is to try to get the high school equivalent of a special topics class. Or a co-op program-- which some High Schools support. If these options aren't available, start a club. Especially in the Open Source field, you'll find programmers LOVE to talk.
If you want to push programming on the linux platform as the solution for your school, you'll have a tough sell ahead of you. Obvious selling points:
Free, works with hardware already procured and destined for trash.
Includes sample code (the source) and developement tools for dozens of languages (don't try to explain the differences between bash, Perl, HTML and C-- they won't get it.
Out of the box internet ready.
Procure it for a linux club first. If you have a teacher who knows linux already, you are in a very small minority. Just a machine or two for the geeks in your school. Do not use the word 'hacking' ever. EVER! Sure, it isn't cracking or illegal, but it raises a red flag. Present it as something to make and serve web pages with. Teachers like that and can get it quickly. Good computer teachers will appreciate the chance to dust off their C skills while watching normally uninterested students ooohing and ahhhing over the web page stuff.
If possible, make it part of something that is already budgetted (like programming classes or a club). Don't let them 'study' the problem-- that means they are waiting for you to graduate. Don't let them try to hire someone just for this-- they'll be cut out of the budget over the summer. Instead, keep it cheap, minimize teachers' time committments and keep a low profile.
If you are blessed and have a CS teacher that does neither, you have a chance. Otherwise, you are pretty much out of luck. Dealing with arrogant teachers is nearly impossible.
Lets write this another way:
CS students are generally either conservative or foolish. The conservatives rever what they used at home, often something along the lines of [insert favorite distro/util]. They are inflexible, and refuse to hear anything that goes against their ideas.
The foolish are followers of some particular trend. Some follow Linux like zombies, others check up on every BSD trend they see. Anything that does not follow this trend is bad and wrong, because what they do is obviously the right way. If you are blessed and have a CS student that does neither, you have a chance. Otherwise, you are pretty much out of luck. Dealing with arrogant students is nearly impossible.
I'm a CS student in university, and I see this all the time. Nothing irritates me more than the people in the classes who believe they know more than the professors, and insist on pointing out every last error they make, just to show how smart they are. Either that, or they take every opportunity possible to plug program Foo or BarOS. Not only does it irritate the rest of the class, but the profs as well.
Make sure this isn't you, and you'll go a lot further with this. Linux in the class is good, but my way or the highway is bad.
First of all, I think it's great that your high school offers a Software Development course. I graduated from HS in 1995, and went on to study CS. All I could squeeze out of my school was a little pascal tutoring from the Computer Lab Nazi (tm).
As for raising awareness of the GPL, you can do it with words and with actions. Simply mentioning it in class is great. It's unfortunate that your teacher dismissed it as crack-pottery. A better educator would have been interested, and asked follow up questions, IMHO.
If you've got a big project to do for the class, and I'd hope you would, you could do one of several things. You could make something useful, and GPL it. This is nice if you don't have real options for choosing your project. Another option would be to find an OS project that interests you, and spec a specific module. Present the specification to your teacher as a project proposal. Include some good ol' fashioned OS propeganda in there for good measure.
If your teacher looked at you like you're crazy, it begs the question: does she know anything about Linux? Linux gets so much press these days I have a hard time believeing that somebody who's teaching a SD class hasn't even *heard* of it. Working from this, I'd assume she's heard some Linux hype, but doesn't know what makes it free software, exactly.
Aside from integrating your classwork and open-source development, you could go the talking route. Give her some URLs, and explain to her why you believe in Free Software. Discuss the educational oppurtunities - you can see the source! You want to know how to organize a large project? Look at the Mozilla CVS tree, or GIMP, or any other large project.
Maybe buy/burn her a Linux/*BSD disc or something.
Has she heard of Perl? Python?
After some of these comments, I hate to admit that I am a HS CS teacher and systems director.
I would recommend you find some schools using Linux and see if they'll talk to your school. I'd be happy to. Show them our site or Beacon School and then have them email us.
I would suspect that the reason you don't learn about Linux in the classroom is because your teacher doesn't know about it. Offer to do a presentation on it for extra credit or no credit at all. If the teacher turns you down, then you've found your problem.
We've been running Linux for about 3 years now and I couldn't be happier. Our students and faculty benefit from the increased services and especially the uptime! Linux has lowered cost and headaches.
Also, the first three weeks of my programming class are devoted to Linux. All assignments are done on the Linux server.
You could also start a LUG and get interest that way.
Good Luck!
Remember, these schools have been using windows since before the big antitrust suits. I know that my school (a big one in the Dade County Public School System, Florida) has a contract with Microsoft. They use Windows 95 on every computer in all the labs, library, and other rooms/offices. They are Nazis when it comes to free anything (as in speech). Lemme put it this way, you're not allowed to bring 3.5" disks into the library. Surfwatch is used along with Microsoft Proxy server to filter what is accessible through the (OVERKILL) T1 Line that the school has. Furthurmore, someone has everyone believing that all students are computer virus carrying know-nothings whose sole intent with respect to computers is to infect them with virii after using them to send death threats to government officials, find little kids to stalk, and look at hardcore porn.
This is (IMHO) either the result of few ruining it for many, or several chain-linked knee-jerk reactions to exaggerated local news broadcasts. Of course, it's probably both.
Oh shit! I forgot to click "Post Anonymously"...
You will have several things to consider when informing your high school powers that be about linux and the GPL.
1. Microsoft and Apple have a considerable budget that they set aside for the wooing of public education. Because of this many teachers may have been taught certain things about linux that are no longer true.
2. In your favor most colleges use some form of unix. Most teachers have attended one of these colleges. Therefore somewhere in the back of their experiences they might remember unix. You could try to explain that linux is just a form of unix.
3. Obtain a copy of a standard GPL. Include it with any other information you choose to provide. Getting a factory printed GPL from a boxed distribution would probably be more impressive than just printing one out on a laser printer.
4. Teachers do not like to appear foolish in front of students. Most distributions include a technical support line for a certain number of days or months. Make sure that the teachers know they have somewhere to turn when the installation goes south.
5. Beware of talking about how you can "get it free on the internet". Teachers and schools are very cautious about anything to do with downloads from the internet. If the teacher is knowledgable then this should not be an issue but if that were the case you would not have written your letter.
6. Make them aware that an office suite is availabe for linux. Star Office comes with many distributions and it makes the transition from other office suites much easier. It also makes it posible to teach wordprocessing and spreadsheet operation using a linux system.
7. Telling the teacher that it is better because it is free might not have any effect because Microsoft and Apple may already be providing the school with free software. Choose other points in Linux's favor.
That is all I have time for now.
Good luck!
Dave Zimmerman dzimmerm@columbus.rr.com
Jumping to correct solutions slowly is better than jumping to incorrect solutions quickly.