School budgets cut, but what about making genuine savings with open source?
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From: High Plains Thumper on 10 Jul 2010 07:59 Rex Ballard wrote: > 7 wrote: > >> School budgets cut, but what about making genuine savings with open >> source? >> >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/05/school-building-programme-budget-cuts > >> School budgets are being cut in UK, and probably across most of EU >> and America, so when are we going to see the widespread uptake of >> open source? > > I never cease to be amazed at the priorties of the School Boards. > They will cut teachers, increase classroom size, and even close > computer labs, but they will spend rediculous amounts of money on > the athletic programs, cheer squad, and the marching band for > half-time. How many schools is it, that in the Parent-Teacher Organisation (PTO), you may be get a hundred parents, but then a football booster club meeting, 400? >> It has lower cost and runs on lot lower hardware requirements. > > Most schools have terribly equipped computer labs in the first > place. In many cases, the teachers are asking for homework to be > turned in using Office 2007 format, when the computers in the lab are > still running Windows XP and Office 2000. Many are still 1 Ghz > machines with 1 gig of RAM. Many schools are underfunded and you will find in the classroom outdated computer equipment running outdated operating systems. 10 years ago, I still saw Apple ][ computers in my daughter's classroom. A savvy science or math teacher may visit government surplusing equipment and have the excess surplused to them. Linux has sufficient applications to be able to provide a modern and sufficient learning environment, much better than old Windows 98 or 2000 machines. > At the same time, I've recently seen school budgets that want > INCREASES for the sports program. Intramural sports and athletics are important. How many overweight children do you see, who have no interest in physical activity? However, I've seen some of the uncompetitive "win at all costs" type activities, which could be dispensed with. In Japan, the children go to school 6 days a week. However, half day Saturdays are used for mandatory extracurricular activities like baseball, basketball, soccer, band, choir, art, etc. The parents have freedom to choose the activities for their child, but the children must attend the activities chosen as part of the school curricula. -- HPT
From: High Plains Thumper on 10 Jul 2010 08:00 Rex Ballard wrote: > 7 wrote: > >> School budgets cut, but what about making genuine savings with open >> source? >> >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/05/school-building-programme-budget-cuts > >> School budgets are being cut in UK, and probably across most of EU >> and America, so when are we going to see the widespread uptake of >> open source? > > I never cease to be amazed at the priorties of the School Boards. > They will cut teachers, increase classroom size, and even close > computer labs, but they will spend rediculous amounts of money on > the athletic programs, cheer squad, and the marching band for > half-time. How many schools is it, that in the Parent-Teacher Organisation (PTO), you may be get a hundred parents, but then a football booster club meeting, 400? >> It has lower cost and runs on lot lower hardware requirements. > > Most schools have terribly equipped computer labs in the first > place. In many cases, the teachers are asking for homework to be > turned in using Office 2007 format, when the computers in the lab are > still running Windows XP and Office 2000. Many are still 1 Ghz > machines with 1 gig of RAM. Many schools are underfunded and you will find in the classroom outdated computer equipment running outdated operating systems. 10 years ago, I still saw Apple ][ computers in my daughter's classroom. A savvy science or math teacher may visit government surplusing equipment and have the excess surplused to them. Linux has sufficient applications to be able to provide a modern and sufficient learning environment, much better than old Windows 98 or 2000 machines. > At the same time, I've recently seen school budgets that want > INCREASES for the sports program. Intramural sports and athletics are important. How many overweight children do you see, who have no interest in physical activity? However, I've seen some of the uncompetitive "win at all costs" type activities, which could be dispensed with. In Japan, the children go to school 6 days a week. However, half day Saturdays are used for mandatory extracurricular activities like baseball, basketball, soccer, band, choir, art, etc. The parents have freedom to choose the activities for their child, but the children must attend the activities chosen as part of the school curricula. -- HPT
From: High Plains Thumper on 10 Jul 2010 10:09 Gordon wrote: > Rex Ballard wrote: > >> And the conversation degenerates into little more than two 4th >> graders shouting names at each other. What better way to kill >> interest in what could have been a very interesting thread. > > Sorry, just responding to clogwog's patronising name-calling. Clogwog has never contributed anything worthy to discuss. > And yes it IS still an interesting thread. I maintain that certainly > up till quite recently most schools have taught "point and click > Microsoft". If you teach application PRINCIPLES rather than > vendor-specific skills, then the pupils are far more likely to be > able to use any application they come across reasonably proficiently > right from the word "go". I definitely concur with you. It is far more important to teach the principles of word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, data base and etc. than it is a specific user interface for a proprietary product. Then the child can tackle any user application and produce results. > My wife is an area sales manager in the UK for one of the largest > educational publishing companies in the world and yes, until > recently all their software has been completely Windows orientated, > but there are signs that they are now starting to take Linux-based > applications seriously, which is GOOD NEWS as many schools are > looking to reduce the huge cost of windows-based software and > hardware. This is good news. Some strides in US have been made through efforts such as Indiana Schools. More schools are looking to alternate budget stretching solutions since the economy has experienced a long standing down turn with shrinking tax base. > The other problem in the UK is that there are a small number of > network providers in education, and certainly the largest of those > (purely because they started first) are quite draconian as to what > software is allowed on THEIR systems, and in many cases this is out > of the individual school's hands as the network provider did a deal > with the Local Education Authority (cough cough!) rather than the LEA > allowing individual schools to choose who and what THEY thought best > for THEIR school. I think this a typical scenario with many educational systems, not just UK. After all according to Microsoft Evangelism document: [quote] VICTORY "A computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software." This is the mission statement of Microsoft itself; it is the definition of the conditions under which Microsoft itself can declare overall victory. DEFINITION OF EVANGELISM AT MICROSOFT "Evangelism is the art and science of getting developers to ship products that support Microsoft's platforms." [/quote] PDF pages 5 and 6 Microsoft Evangelism Comes vs. Microsoft court case http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/Comes-3096.pdf Those in the business IMO are not in it to benefit the kids, it is all about profits. > So it gets horribly complicated.... The solution is simple, let go of so called lock in and let the local educators, i.e. districts decide what is best for their situation. And hire people who are more than just MSCE certified. -- HPT
From: Chris Ahlstrom on 19 Jul 2010 21:49 Nix posted this message in ROT13 encoding: > I wouldn't want to *lose* this huge diversity of applications, but it is > nice to see that effort is being made to avoid crushing users under the > weight of silly names. Like "Nix"? Just teasin'! Don't tase me bro! -- Confession is good for the soul, but bad for the career.
From: Bernard Peek on 20 Jul 2010 14:28
On 19/07/10 23:23, Nix wrote: > On 13 Jul 2010, jasee(a)btinternet.com outgrape: >> The main trouble with Linux is there are so many different flavours and in >> many ways the 'makers?' have tried to emulate windows system by providing >> even more exotic visual effects and a plethora of applications > > Uh, there's something *wrong* with providing a lot of applications? Yes, it means that you need a wider range of support skills and that can get very expensive very fast. It's a manageable problem but it is one that has to be managed. It also presents users with lots of choices which slows them down while they try to choose between them, often with no information about the different options. Even worse they slow other people down by asking them questions. It's quite fundamental to the open source movement that choice is good. It certainly can be but like most other things it's best taken in moderation. -- Bernard Peek bap(a)shrdlu.com |