Science education at the Chicago Public Schools is alive and well. Those interested in tapping into the expertise of our principals and teachers are invited to join our mailing lists. We have lots of experience teaching science education on a budget.
As a staff member working on Capitol Hill, let me remind you of the hierarchy of response to constituents (highest to lowest).
1. US Mail 2. Fax 3. Telephone calls 4. Email
NB: Most congressional offices don't put the priority on email communcation that this community does.
In your correspondance, refer to any personal contact you've had with your Member of Congress. Such notes usually get pushed to the top of the pile by staff.
You can click here to look up your Representative from a US zip code.
Given that many schools are strapped financially, most teachers don't receive enough time for professional development anyway, is it worth putting effort to a more widespread adoption of Linux in schools? While GNU is free, the cost of tech support and training will be expensive!
Perhaps it's better to focus your energy on encouraging your school to adopt better methods of teaching and assessing. If your grade wasn't dependent on small homework assignments (busywork!) but instead on larger, more comprehensive integrated projects (on which you could use any hardware/software set up you'd like!), I'd bet that your education would make you more appealing to the IT world as well as more Linux-friendly.
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Science education at the Chicago Public Schools is alive and well. Those interested in tapping into the expertise of our principals and teachers are invited to join our mailing lists. We have lots of experience teaching science education on a budget.
As a staff member working on Capitol Hill, let me remind you of the hierarchy of response to constituents (highest to lowest).
1. US Mail
2. Fax
3. Telephone calls
4. Email
NB: Most congressional offices don't put the priority on email communcation that this community does.
In your correspondance, refer to any personal contact you've had with your Member of Congress. Such notes usually get pushed to the top of the pile by staff.
You can click here to look up your Representative from a US zip code.
Most Congressmen will claim to be tech-friendly these days.
Two who are PhD physicists certainly are:
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Given that many schools are strapped financially, most teachers don't receive enough time for professional development anyway, is it worth putting effort to a more widespread adoption of Linux in schools? While GNU is free, the cost of tech support and training will be expensive!
Perhaps it's better to focus your energy on encouraging your school to adopt better methods of teaching and assessing. If your grade wasn't dependent on small homework assignments (busywork!) but instead on larger, more comprehensive integrated projects (on which you could use any hardware/software set up you'd like!), I'd bet that your education would make you more appealing to the IT world as well as more Linux-friendly.