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Apple Tests Well in Education
wongaboo writes "Business Week has some interesting insights into Apples in schools. I remember when I was in K-6 an Apple was about the only computer you could find. Then in high school there were some PC's around but it was still mostly Apple. In college is was just the reverse: all PC's and no Apples. Now they are giving kids in high school a laptop when they show up; will it be an Apple? Either way, it makes me want to be a kid again."
The public school board offers a curriculum which involves all students to have a laptop, specifically an iBook. Apparently the kids take rather well to them too. When I was speaking to one of their techs, he told me they recieve less calls for help since they've made the mac 'switch'.
I would have assumed it'd be the other way around, since the kids were already used to windows.
My old high school dropped all their PCs for OSX Macs the year after I graduated. On one hand I was pleased, but on the other hand I was kind of pissed. It's as if they were waiting for me to leave!
Sarcasm and conspiracy aside, I'm glad that so many schools are realizing the benefits of upgrading their pre osx Macs and/or replacing their PCs. The world needs more *nix and less wintel.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
From an average user's perspective, MacOS X has as much in common with UNIX as Windows XP does (absolutely nothing). It's extremely disingenuous to claim that casual familiary with MacOS X results in casual familiarity with UNIX. The similarities between the two are almost exclusively beneath the hood, so to speak, and far beyond the reach of all but the most advanced users.
In district 26 in Queens, the school board refused to let schools buy Apples, even when the entire school was in favor of it.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a Mac lover through and through, but looking back on it, I've always felt that the money could have been better spent elsewhere -- like fixing the dilapidated building we called a school. I went to a Catholic school where the textbooks were in terrible condition, the desks literally fell apart from time to time, and the "heater" keep the rooms at a balmy 55-60 degrees. But we had a bright, modern computer lab with lots o' Macs that we used for, well, nothing much, really.
By the time I made it to eighth grade -- yes, grades K-8 were all in one building... sigh -- the computers were so woefully out of date that they couldn't use them for anything more than teaching typing.
I've read a couple of studies recently that demonstrate that tech education for grade/middle-schoolers really doesn't benefit them much in the long run, given what they try to teach the kids, particularly when one considers the expense such education naturally engenders. Just about any educational software marketed to schools can be easily replicated by much cheaper (gasp) low-tech tools.
I think the highschoolers on up can benefit a lot more from technology, and computers are so ubiquitous in the home these days that it's not like they'll get to high school and have never seen one of these glowing boxes before. I have friends with kids who are in fourth grade or higher and who read well below grade-level, but they have plenty of access to technology at school. All this technology won't do them any good if they don't have the education to use it. Computers are just a tool -- bicycles for the brain, as Steve Jobs once said -- but you've got to know how to ride first, and where you want to go.
Although, none of us will deny that Number Munchers was hella fun :-)
If it's not one thing it's your mother.
They run hardly any software, and once you get into the real world, your Mac skills are worthless because Macs are few and far between out there.
The world is not just first person computer games.
That's not entirely true. With Unix under the hood, the casual user still has access to Unix attributes; namely, Apache. With one click in the System Preferences, even the most naive user can set up an Apache-driven website right from their Macintosh. There's not a lot of other Unixes that make it so easy to set up Apache.
You are correct that for the average user this is true, but it does open up a whole new world for the curious or power user. It is easy to get to a command prompt and almost all open-source software of any quality has been ported and is easily installed. lots of free X-window software (most all apps you find on linux)
I am a happy convert. I got a mac last year for the first time and I could be happier with it. I am a software engineer in a Unix world. The great thing about the mac is that I have all of my programming tools that I am used to in Unix, some open-source productivity applications, and access to great commercial applications.
</end_surmon-like_rant>
I graduated from high school in 2001. My senior year, my private K-12 prep school in St. Paul MN, Mounds park academy, started an apple iBook program (only grades 9-12) that continues today. Despite my fervent support of Macs, i was dead set against the program because i thought it was an expensive distraction. (we also started horrible block scheduling the year before, which drove me nuts). We got the Clamshell models, but these have now been replaced by the white iBooks. (software licensing was WAY expensive)
Overall it was useless much of the time, but it also taught everyone in our class the fundamentals of TCP/IP, an important skill in the Modern Age. As we were seniors, the administration didn't pick on us too much, but they tried very hard to crack down on the younger kids, particularly boys. They didn't want people installing games, of course, but they also decided to ban the use of the CD-ROM drives, a bizarrely unenforceable rule given that we took the computers home every day (these rules are No More). Since the Techs would often erase a computer as a first resort when fixing it (spotting warez along the way), I had to step in and deal with things all the time.
There was a real problem with understanding how the "private space" of an object owned by the school actually worked. I recall being commanded not to tell people that the MacOS had a handy "Encrypt..." command in the File menu.
The unfortunate irony of the program was that the kids who were formerly the most obedient in school--ie the geek types--were placed in a position of violating rules left and right if they wanted to set up their computers in a comfortable sort of way with the usual warez etc. So the good kids got in trouble, and some otherwise harmless guys basically got caught in enforcement feedback loops that disheartened or chased them right out of the school.
Also it was interesting to run AirPort packet sniffing and watch AIM conversations and unencrypted email passwords. Since then, instant messengers have been blocked. There were a lot of technical snags that year--infuriating and time wasting. As I tend to be easily distracted sometimes, the magic boxes were all too tempting.
One of the best moments was when I made a comment on Slashdot about AirPort packet sniffing at the very beginning of Statistics class, and by the end of class it reached the vaunted 5, joy of joys.
The older iBooks had kind of crummy CD trays, where the outer plastic shell would break off too easily, not to mention all the cracked screens. Generally students have to pay for all replacements and repairs, which are very expensive. Power cords get lost frequently, and laptops have been stolen from time to time.
We had a rather moody senior class, and it was disheartening to come into our senior lounge to see everyone silent inside the screens, oftentimes communicating by AIM across the room to make furtive conspiracies. Did we trade off natural interaction for this cold mode of operation?
Fortunately, the subsequent classes of kids adjusted to the laptops more socially, and they have not "run amok" in that sense. However, where the old geek population that was there when i was a freshman was more rebellious and linux oriented, these new geeks are very obedient, obnoxious condescending bitches, according to my younger brother and sister who are now sophomores at the school.
The whole program was driven by an urge to keep MPA at the cutting edge of innovation bla bla bla. I was really impressed by teachers who came up with innovative ideas but i really wished we didn't have to be the damn guinea pigs. I started my website in those days, and it was fun to have everyone reading it all the time, but then when i got uncontrollably angry i said hasty things and got in big trouble. Hazards of the new territory.
--hongpong.com
People like you piss me off. Macs run the core software needed in the education and office environments.
I work in a school, our Macs run almost all the same software that the PCs do, they last 40% longer 'in the field' than the PCs, and we haven't had a SINGLE virus-infected Mac since 1999. Macs run the GNU tools, which are unarguably the BEST tools for those of us who can be productive on the command line.
I do hardware repairs too, but in the last four months I've only had to do one hardware repair out of 230 Macs in operation. The PC guy is SWIMMING in broken PCs, he does three or four each day, on 600 PCs in operation.
As for skills, your Windows skills aren't going to be worth jack-shit either, Microsoft wants to totally alter the face and philosophy of computing from what we know today. Most training in the office is with custom apps and databases anyway, and no amount of time using a Windows box will help you with "Bob From Accounting's Really Cool Purchasing Database".
Computer skills are totally transferable. I watch kids everyday walk in between Windows and Mac labs, doing what they do. Maybe someone in their 30s or 40s would have trouble switching after 20 years of use, but kids these days, this upcoming generation, they can use anything with buttons.
As for Mac skills being worthless, no skill is worthless. I set up a computer for a friend last year with Linux and KDE on it, she never had a computer before, she's 25. She just got a job with Windows/Office this week and the only thing she called me about was to verify that cutting and pasting were 'different on windows'. She can lay out a table or make a chart just as easily as the next guy who's been using Office for three years.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
--Studies have been done that show using Word with spell/grammar check is a detriment.
--What methodology was used? can you cite sources
He's extrapolating upon the 'Calculators are a detriment to slide rule skills' research conducted back in the 70's.
Which, if you'll recall, dates all the way back to the 'Pointy sticks are a detriment to bludgeoning-with-rocks skills' study of 20,000 BCE.
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
I really do wonder how Michigan schools tech support are going to keep their heads on their bodies after this.
Personal experience tells me; How many students will install Mozilla? Will these computers be running XP? Will they be up to date? Patched? How many of them will click "yes" whenever something comes up as they're surfing the Internet? How much of that software will break the computer? When viruses invade (you know... ones that come in through Outlook that the virus companies haven't quite caught yet) how many computers will break? Spam other computers? How many 6th graders know not to open the attachment? How many would do it anyway?
To each company I will give their own (read: Macs have problems too), but... for as long as I've had a Mac, I haven't had to deal with the above. And for as long as I've given over Windows systems to my parents, I sure as hell have.
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
Here in Australia, Apple appear to be doing next to nothing to sell computers to schools, colleges and universities.
The other day I went to a poorly advertised "iMall" at our local university. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't this: a few rickety tables, with one iBook and one iMac, both running GarageBand. A lot of leaflets, iPod badges and a free draw to win an iPod. All the signs were scrawled in marker pen on bits of photocopy paper and sellotaped to the desk. A couple of geeky students were there to "sell" the systems, but instead hogged the two machines making music loops. Anyone wandering past would a) think it was a jumble sale and b) would be put off because there wasn't an actual machine to try out. I couldn't see the point of it, and doubt very much if it led to even one sale. I left very disappointed and pretty miffed at Apple for their lack of effort.
This same uni has about a 40% Mac usage among its staff overall. There is a strong Mac following here, but it's totally thanks to staff who are able to specify their own PCs.
The other day I met a lecturer at our local TAFE (further ed college). He teaches film and cinematography. Thanks to his own efforts, he has got two labs installed with Macs, an iMac lab for general still and basic work, and a G5 lab for Final Cut Pro. Where was Apple? Nowhere, he did all of this off his own bat. The rest of the college has PCs for all the courses they run, including desktop publishing and graphics arts courses, where they use Photoshop, Illustrator, et al - all traditional programs that are strong on the Mac. Apple Australia should be convincing TAFEs to use Macs for these courses - it's what many of these students will find in industry after all (well maybe, eventually those students will say, Oh, I used a PC for this at college, let's buy a PC). Get Macs into schools and TAFEs now, and industrial sales will pick up later. I just don't see Apple doing it here.
Another lecturer I know at a university in Sydney recently told me that after a recent policy change, there are now no Macs at all left for general student use in the uni. The only ones remaining are those that particular staff have clung on to because they refuse to have a PC. Even he, a long-time Mac fan, has had to buy a Dell laptop so he can use the same software that his students are using, and he says it's a backward step because he now has far more issues with stuff failing to work, and many projects such as creating QuickTime panoramas and so on has become a lot more long-winded and difficult. Has Apple lifted a finger to slow or reverse this trend? Not according to him, and the evidence speaks for itself.
It seems to me that Apple succeeds in its small way despite itself. It's enthusiastic users who make Apple sales in education, not Apple. At least not in Australia. I'm starting to think that the Apple Australia sales office doesn't exist - or maybe it's like a spidery old dusty corner in a building that no-one has bothered to enter in years. For fuck's sake, it's about time you made an effort guys!
This study does show that people are willing to trust the software over their own abilities, but that's a different issue.
And I'm not taking a position for or against spellcheckers helping or harming students. I have seen it cited as a 'well known fact' too often, and I wonder if there is any real legitimacy. I also ask about the methodology because you can find a limited or just plain bad study to prove just about anything.
--
Evan "Grad students! They produce every fact you'll ever need to cite!"
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I agree with the above post. Apple in Australia is not doing much, despite many opportunities to act.
I am currently working on some bioinformatic projects at a university in Sydney. With the need to use commercial software (e.g. Word and EndNote) and open source bioinformatic tools, I can't imagine doing this without OS X. Sometimes, I come into contact with other people doing similar things, with similar opinions about OS X.
Open Source is making quite an impression here on campus, with many students installing dual boot systems to learn about UNIX. However, these students often have problems getting onto the network and getting cross-compatibility between the two platforms installed on their computers. It really frustrates me to see other people getting frustrated when there are much easier solutions out there.
The Apple store here on campus seems to enjoy itself too much. Recently they coated their store front with frosted glass. With all the Mac boxes inside, it now looks more like a warehouse than a shop. The two times that I visited the store weren't very good experiences, as the people behind the counter acted as if you have to beg them for responses. Apple really needs to do more.
Remember that we're talking about schools here. Schools are supposed to educate.
;-)
Granted, 90% of the students aren't going to look past the surface cosmetics, any more than they'll ever learn much in their math or history classes.
But for the minority that wants to learn, OSX is open to them in a way that isn't remotely possible with MS Windows. They can dig as deep into the system as they like, and except for a few proprietary apps, the underlying system is accessible.
Maybe in your office, the sysadmin corwd wants to keep you ignorant and at their mercy. But in a halfway decent school, closed system should be avoided for a very good reason: It's their job to help their students become educated. They need computers that can be opened up and studied.
Of course, a really good school will have a variety of computers. Even a few Windows boxes, so that the students can compare their design and construction with the others that are available. But OSX, linux and *BSD should probably be the workhorses, since those are the ones that are accessible to the students.
(And note that I haven't even mentioned quality. In an educational setting, bad examples are just as useful as good examples.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
You'd really have to be dumb to say 'Mac Skills' if you interviewed for ANY job. 'Computer Kills' are cross-platform, and using a Mac will get you quite far in Windows or Linux these days. The 'desktop' paradigm is cross-platform, file management and applications are the same on all platforms.
You wouldn't say that you only know the British dialect of English if you applied, would you? Would that make your language skills useless in America?
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
It's funny how the article mentions Dell as the arch-nemesis of Apple in the education market, because at my district Dell took over for Apple. In my elementary days, you couldn't go around school without seeing an Apple in every classroom. But around the 5th grade, they switched to Dells. [tear]
It made sense at the time, seeing as how the Apple computers were around a decade old; archaic next to a computer with Windows 95. (GUI -- wow!) But looking at the school situation now, it's terrible. The schools have been overloaded with Dells -- there must be three thousand machines in my high school alone (a school of about 1,600 students) with several thousand more in the remainder of the district.
What's worse is that these machines are outdated for the most part. The district goes out every year and buys a new set of fifty to one hundred machines per school - the last was for a significant speed bump in the high school. Unfortunately, until this school year (my senior year) they had used Windows NT, meaning they had to go out and buy thousands of licenses for XP - a complete and utter waste of funds.
I work as an editor for the school newspaper, and it's the opinion of the editorial staff that the time to move back to Apple is now. It's been proven that the longevity of Macs outweighs any PC, and they are more reliable than a PC in terms of security. I won't even delve into the amount of time/money spent on Internet blocking, virus problems, networking issues, etc. But you know how tech people in school districts can be -- ignorant fools who don't know enough about what they're in charge of.
The point is that this doesn't give the user any practical familiarity with unix. They may not even learn the name "Apache" from this experience. The opportunity is there, but I don't see any students (except those with a predisposition to hacking) learning anything particularly unixy from using Macs.
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