Slashdot Mirror
When Teachers Are Obstacles To Linux In Education
jamie found this blog post up on the HeliOS Project, which brings Linux to school kids in Austin, TX. It makes very clear some of the obstacles that free software faces in the classroom. It seems a teacher came upon a student demonstrating Linux to other kids and handing out LiveCDs. The teacher confiscated the CDs and wrote an angry email to HeliOS's founder, Ken Starks: "Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. ... This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older version of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them..." Starks pens an eloquent reply, which contains a factoid I have not seen mentioned before: "The fact that you seem to believe that Microsoft is the end all and be-all is actually funny in a sad sort of way. Then again, being a good NEA member, you would spout the Union line. Microsoft has pumped tens of millions of dollars into your union. Of course you are going to 'recommend' Microsoft Windows."
Anyone else reminded of:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Linux_Needs_Windows_To_Run
"What none sense;"
I have to ask, was this a joke?
In the article, this hapless bint (how can we stop people like this getting near children?) says "I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods." I think she has got Linux confused with either (a) LSD or (b) [insert adventurous sexual practice here].
I hope she told the other teachers to do the same thing.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
By the way, it was just an eee 901. O_O
Classic quote #2...."Theres no way a computer could be that small, unless you're some sort of hacker or spy".
The teacher's age is somewhere between 60-70...He's an old dude.
Why do people insist that rhetorical questions don't need a reply? This is a rhetorical question, don't bother replying.
That is because they are searching for "free porn" and end up having to pay somehow.
I'm not insane! My mother had me tested.
$10 says what she meant was one time during college when she missed a hand-in deadline, she used a tcsh shell on the school's Origin 2000 running IRIX for 5 minutes to submit her assignment to the lecturer's email inbox (having one of the computer sciences geeks show her how after she promised to go for drinks, who then prattled on for 4 hours about AT&T and BSD Licenses)
Damn, what's his address, Monsanto will pay me at least $50 to turn this freeloader in.
Watch this Heartland Institute video