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Hawaii Puts Old Computers To Work in Linux Labs
johnp pastes "'As pressure mounts to meet state-mandated educational technology standards, some Hawai'i schools with limited budgets are getting updated computer labs at a fraction of the typical costs.'"
A more interesting question is total cost of ownership; i.e. how much money this really saves over the long run (factoring in things like the fact that the PTA is probably giving the schools grief because the students are learning Office or similar skills that will help them get jobs... believe me, this happens). I'm sure someone has opinions (and hopefully data) related to that.
An even more interesting questions is why our schools aren't adequately funded...
Disclaimer: I work for a company, but I don't speak for them.
Now that's out of the bag, Redmond will be on the phone by the end of their week with their Hawaiian office to offer "discounts" to the schools.
The first database software I used - well before I started high school - was MySQL. On Windows. Call me wierd, but I didn't find it hard to learn the nuts and bolts of that at all. MySQL is quite well documented.
Then again, I suppose I was quite a bit more motivated than your run-of-the-mill high-schooler is.
IMHO, the best way to teach people to use a database is via the backend-to-a-website route. Get them to make a website, and then keep asking them to add/remove/update pages. They'll soon be begging to be taught to add a database backend
Pirate Party UK
You can learn concepts of point-and-click, copy-and-paste, desktop metaphor, and most importantly how to use a help system on any OS. Schools that take the perspective of "we have to teach them system X because that's what they'll use in the 'real world'" are thinking wrong. Teach kids how to think not just which widgets to click.
And if they weren't screwing around in HyperCard on a Mac they'd be screwing around in Solitaire on in Windows. HyperCard may not be an application used in business today, but the kids learned some skills that can be applied elsewhere. If the teachers stressed that aspect of it, the kids will be OK.
Constitutionally Correct
The copyright law should be applied universally," she says. "What is it we're trying to teach these children anyway? Are we teaching them that its OK to steal? The message we need to get to them is that intellectual property deserves to be respected.
That quote from your Philadelphia link was from some BSA drone, but it could have come from the RIAA, the MPAA or, for that matter, Orrin Hatch. If I were an intelligent kid in that school system, the message I'd take way would be this: "stealing" as defined by (insert favorite industry group / misguided Congressman here} is WRONG WRONG WRONG! Got that? It is WRONG. But intimidation, lying, cheating, and misrepresenting facts and relevant law is entirely okay so long as you're doing it to preserve and protect your cash flow.
So far as I'm concerned, let big business (and big government) keep their little "social messages" away from our children. This is a tactic long used by organized religions, totalitarian states and, for that matter, tobacco companies: indoctrinate children as early as possible, and as adults they will find it almost impossible to think outside the mental sandbox you've created for them.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I disagree. I'm a teacher in a mixed Linux/Windows based school. All students learn to use both system for basic tasks like word processing and file management. The ultimate idea is to teach them generally about computers so they are better prepared for whatever new systems they might encounter later.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.