[ok-mail] [K12OSN] Best approach to calm the school's administration about Linux?

[John Hansknecht]

On Fri, 2004-05-28 at 14:49, Joseph Bishay wrote:
<SNIP>
> It seems rumours within the school's administration/board abound that 
> the lab we have is totally useless for preparing students for future 
> computer use/education.
> 
> Background: we are a small private Christian elementary school with a 
> very limited budget and basic staffing. The school board is also made 
> up of people who have no experience in teaching (mostly business 
> people) and they don't interact with the school directly (IE: they're 
> completely out of touch).
> 
> What would be the best way to reassure them that the system we have 
> IS able to prepare the students for the future (IE: Doesn't need to 
> be Windows)? Note that in our area (Toronto) there is no ministry-
> mandated computer curriculum, so essentially the lab is used as a 
> reference room for other subjects. 

I worked with a teacher at the school to write a report that explains
why teaching specific applications at the elementary school level is a
mistake. The report describes how kids need to learn how to use
computers, not how to use one specific application to handle one
specific problem. At the early level we are actually better off
challenging students with the 'different' so that as they grow older and
run in to the thousands of different application in the world they will
have an advantage because they know how to learn how to use software.
-- 

Thanks,

John Hansknecht

"I would like to be able to love my country and justice too."
			Albert Camus
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