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Google Wants Google Doodles Taught In Public School, Warns Kids They Best Behave

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

theodp writes: Well, this year's Hour of Code is almost upon us, and if Google has its way, K-12 schoolchildren across the nation will be learning computer science by creating Google Doodles with Scratch (lesson plan). Curiously, the introductory video for the Create Your Own Google Logo Hour of Code activity from the Google Computer Science Education Department sternly warns kids, "While it is okay to use the Google logo for your personal Doodle, it is not okay [emphasis Google's] to use it anyplace else or outside this activity." In addition to respecting its intellectual property, Google instructs kids that they are to follow the Scratch Community Guidelines when they create Google logos: "Please stay positive, friendly, and supportive towards others in the Scratch Community. Help us keep Scratch a place where people of different backgrounds and interests feel welcome to hang out and create together."

21 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Like "free speech" today by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You are welcome to speak your mind in America*.

    *Must comply with HR rules of your company, must not offend anyone, infringe on any business interests, or otherwise cause incitement of the public.

    1. Re:Like "free speech" today by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The only way to actually speak your mind today is to be independently wealthy. Participating in the democratic process can easily make you lose your job, even if you violate no laws. Corporations have more free speech than the average citizen (and more ability to get away with breaking the law without consequence). We are way down the slippery slope on this one.

    2. Re:Like "free speech" today by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Try flipping off the president, it could easily cost you your job.

    3. Re:Like "free speech" today by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Interesting

      IMHO she has a case. She will win. And she'll have more money than she would if she worked there. Male executives already set precedent for that company (documented), doing far worse than flipping the President off.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    4. Re:Like "free speech" today by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Informative

      Try flipping off the president, it could easily cost you your job.

      Posting your contempt on fb, twitter or any public venue, will get you fired and rightly so.

      According to this article (and others), Juli Briskman wasn't identifiable in the photo (and was off-work and displayed no company affiliations in the photo), but after it went viral she voluntarily told her company that it was her and they fired her for violating their social media policy by posting something ‘lewd’ or ‘obscene’.

      It's worth noting that the company only reprimanded a male executive who called someone “f—ing Libtard a–hole” on his Facebook account that displayed the company logo and info and then allowed the guy to clean up his posts.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  2. From Corporate Agenda from conflict of interest by evolutionary · · Score: 2

    It' is truly inappropriate for Google to come in with education agenda, legal and social agenda. That is for teachers and parents to decide. Not corporations. That just leads to all sorts of abuse. Microsoft and Apple have been pushing their products through schools and the results are future people who no nothing but the products pushed in the school. Not what I call an education. Oscar Wilde would have a field day with this. (see his statement about British education in "The Importance of being Earnest").

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
  3. Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This whole trend of Big Business dreaming up some curriculum and then trying to push it on public schools has got to stop.

    Not only because it's an obvious shill for their particular technology, but it is often poorly thought out and in some instances politically charged.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Needs to Stop by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ... it is often poorly thought out and in some instances politically charged.

      Well then it sounds like a proper fit for Common Core schools.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:Needs to Stop by networkBoy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      as a parent of a kid dealing with CommonClusterfuck I can say that this has *nothing* on just how political and railroaded CC is.

      [rant]
      Us parents were billed as "it's an additional method to help us teach, not all kids understand the math lessons we grew up with"...
      BUT!
      My kid is hyper analytical (and an aspie, so...) he thrives on a sheet of graph paper and columns for long division, not this brainfuck of repeated additions and subtractions to find the right answer.
      He was reduced to sobbing trying to figure out how to do his homework, which might as well been written in greek, considering the teachers can't even properly explain it.

      I read it, extracted the actual division problems and taught him how to use graph paper to keep his columns straight for classic long division with remainders. He did the entire worksheet with the right answers. and got an F.

      [/rant]

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    3. Re:Needs to Stop by PCM2 · · Score: 2

      He deserves an F ... for being able to correctly complete division problems. Got it.

      Not every kid can understand long division ... so the kids who can, get punished by effectively getting kicked out of the school curriculum with failing grades. Got it.

      I used to think home-schooling people were all libertarian nutjobs or whacked-out Christians. Now I'm not so sure.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    4. Re:Needs to Stop by be951 · · Score: 2

      Not only because it's an obvious shill for their particular technology

      Like Google providing materials and lesson plans based on Scratch, "a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at http://scratch.mit.edu/"? Those monsters!

      in some instances politically charged

      Yeah, the example they give of changing the color of a letter in the logo. Obviously racist, right?

      Damn big businesses, offering free educational resources to teachers and schools. What kind of world are we creating when we expose kids to STEM concepts at a young age? Oh, the humanities!

    5. Re:Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 2

      We put people on the moon with men who grew up going to one room schools, using pencils and slide rules.

      Those schools were funded by local property taxes and controlled by local school boards. There wasn't even an "Ejucation Departmemt".

      The Austin ISD just received approval for a one BILLION dollar bond. They are going to spend 40 million dollars on an elementary school.

      I'm sorry, there is NO lack of funding in education.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    6. Re:Needs to Stop by apoc.famine · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What you and the GGP are missing is what the actual lesson is: You assume it's to learn how to do long division, because that's what it looks like to you. That's what you learned, and how you learned it. Newsflash: This is a different standard, in a different time. It's not the same lesson you learned.

      This lesson is to learn that method of long division. Not the underlying math, but the method.

      That's why his kiddo got an F. Not because he can't do long division, because he can't demonstrate that he understands that method. That's the standard he was being assessed on. Dad's mistake was assuming that long division was the end goal, when it's actually an indirect goal. While the GP here was a bit harsh, he was spot on.

      The reason that the focus is on this method is that it's a building block for higher order math skills. Column division with remainders isn't. The idea is that if students learn enough of these methods, they can apply them to algebra and calculus in the future. That wasn't a lesson on long division. It was foundational work to support mathematics growth far in the future.

      Good on dad up there for caring and teaching his kiddo a new skill, but bad on him for misunderstanding the lesson and subverting his kid's learning. If you really care and want to help, you're going to need to learn what's being taught and why, and not just inject your vastly out-of-date knowledge into kids' brains. That's going to make things worse rather than better.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    7. Re:Needs to Stop by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      This lesson is to learn that method of long division. Not the underlying math, but the method.

      So, what you're saying is, in Common Core following the method that an authority figure demands you follow, regardless of how harmful it may be to your individual learning process, is more important than figuring out the correct answer.

      2+2=4.

      So does 3+1.

      To fail a student because they got to 4 by a different method than the "approved" version is counter-productive, assuming the concept is to produce a generation of intelligent people capable of critical thinking.

      Then again, perhaps I am conceptually mistaken on the purpose of public education...

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    8. Re:Needs to Stop by sycodon · · Score: 2

      Pencils and slide rules.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    9. Re:Needs to Stop by PCM2 · · Score: 2

      The difference is that in math, you actually are trying to get the right answer. Knowing how to wax a car won't do shit if you can't do basic division. The only way to know that you're "doing math right" is to arrive at the correct answer. And if you can do that, reliably, then you don't need any "muscle memory." This ain't gym class.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
  4. Sounds like a contract by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2

    Ultimately, this appears to be a contract. Children cannot agree to contracts, and the school can't enter them into a contract without parental consent. So, kids, do whatever you want with your Google doodles, they are yours.

          If nothing else, copyright applies.

    1. Re:Sounds like a contract by swillden · · Score: 2

      Ultimately, this appears to be a contract. Children cannot agree to contracts, and the school can't enter them into a contract without parental consent. So, kids, do whatever you want with your Google doodles, they are yours.

      If nothing else, copyright applies.

      IANAL, but I don't let that stop me.

      I don't think this is a contract. Google isn't giving them something (permission to use the activity?) in exchange for agreement not to violate Google's trademarks. Google is giving them permission to use Google's trademark in a limited way. There's no exchange of value here, just a unidirectional, limited grant. Kids who, say, make an incredibly-attractive and artistic doodle and then sell thousands of copies of it haven't violated any agreement with Google, they've violated trademark law.

      If nothing else, copyright applies.

      Certainly copyright applies, but copyrights are orthogonal to trademarks. Because of the kid's copyright, Google couldn't use the kid's doodle for commercial purposes without permission (and the kid's inability to enter into a legal contract likely makes it impossible to get that permission via some activity EULA, because that would be a contract), but the copyright doesn't give the kid a right to infringe Google's trademark. Except, of course, in the way that Google gave the kid permission.

      This is all kind of silly, of course. No kid is going to create a doodle that is commercially useful in a way that would bother Google. Unfortunately, trademark law requires that trademark holders take reasonable action to protect their trademarks. Failing to include the relevant caveat while directing kids to make variations of the logo could possibly be interpreted as blanket permission for unrestricted use. It's unlikely, but this sort of thing theoretically could cause a company to lose control of its name and logo.

      I'm not sure the boldface is necessary, though. But, as I said at the top, I'm not a lawyer, so what do I know?

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  5. "This Is Google Home Assist" by forkfail · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I notice that you have a printout of your child's Google Doodle (tm) on your refrigerator.

    Please be aware that you are in violation of the Universal EULA. As such, until such time as you remove the offending item, all Google Services, including but not limited to gmail, your autonomous vehicle permissions, electricity, and access to Amazon will be revoked.

    Please also be aware that until such time as you complete the mandatory three day course "Google Loves Me: Why I should Love Google", you will be ineligible to receive your daily Google Credits.

    Remember, we at Google want what is best for you and for the children you entrust to us."

    --
    Check your premises.
  6. Get kids interested in programming... by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    ...by introducing them to the boring and tedious world of copyright and trademarks.

  7. Been going on for decades by Flexagon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When our kids were in school, decades ago, our battles along these lines were many. There was McDonald's handing out arithmetic worksheets asking the students to add up the costs of Big Macs and fries, decorated with the company's cartoon characters. There were even charities that lobbied for sales or other fund raising activities, for themselves, during school instruction hours. So it's not simply big business (unless one also puts some charities in that same bucket). All of these activities had the strong support of the school district's leadership and it took a lot of effort to get these stopped or limited. Eventually, the primary supporter was voted out of office. Some district leaders continue to think of these programs as "free" instructional material or other supposed benefits. But it's all really designed to sell product or reduce instruction time, and should continue to be fought.

    At the same time, we supported other fund raising activities, for the school itself, when they were held outside of instruction hours. That might be the annual Walk-A-Thon type event held on a weekend or a bake sale after school. And we involved our kids in our own charitable giving. But absolutely none of this on school time.

    In the case of Google's offer, this might be a fine example to use to explain the concepts of copyright, fair use, and even open source to the targets of this unacceptable activity.