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Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management)
Matt Hartley
questions
the slow adoption of Linux by US schools.
"Software alternatives are just not available for Linux.
I hear the statement above almost everyday. What makes the statement so ridiculous is that it is completely inaccurate 99 percent of the time. Normally I would dismiss this as the loss of the person or the business that has opted to limit their horizons with their platform decisions, but when I hear this coming from schools...I find myself shaking my head in complete disbelief."
(Log in to post comments)
The US education system is a mess... Posted Sep 4, 2008 19:32 UTC (Thu) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]
... and this is just one tiny symptom. There are plenty of more important problems to fix in the education system before we get down to worrying about what kind of software is being used in schools.
You're right Posted Sep 5, 2008 21:57 UTC (Fri) by dhess (guest, #7827) [Link] There are a lot of more important problems to fix than what kind of software is being used in classrooms, or even whether computers are being used at all.On the other hand, as people with computer skills, helping schools with their technology issues is one area where the free software community can actually do something constructive. It might be a relatively small contribution, but at least it's more helpful than simply complaining about the bigger problems.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 4, 2008 19:48 UTC (Thu) by kerick (subscriber, #53036) [Link]
I have yet to see a regular school sysadmin who could administer those
boxes. That isn't to say there aren't any, but I haven't seen anyone capable. Such a sad state of affairs. Just so my comment seems a tad more credible, I do work for the state as a Unix admin and I know quite a few people that admin the school system.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 15:14 UTC (Fri) by jd (guest, #26381) [Link]
Given the simplicity of Webmin and Linuxconf, I would consider it deeply disturbing if an administrator could not handle Linux. Neither requires command-line knowledge. These days, both Gnome and KDE offer admin tools of varying degrees of power as well. I honestly think that the days of such excuses being believable are numbered.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 15:24 UTC (Fri) by dmaxwell (guest, #14010) [Link]
There aren't many of us but I am indeed a K12 sysadmin. Linux isn't happening in any big way on our clients but we do make heavy use of it for servers. Unfortunately while broad category software like computer management, browsers, and office suites aren't major problems schools use TONS of pedagogical software that is Windows or OS X only. Add IEPs (Individualized Educational Plans) which have the force of mandate for Special Education and you are looking at a very difficult time meeting end user demands solely with Linux. At best, the most that will ever happen in the foreseeable future here is a Linux /BSD lab.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 18:06 UTC (Fri) by mhr3501 (guest, #53771) [Link]
I agree. We don't seem to be many but there are some of us. Perhaps the largest concentration (that I'm aware of anyway in the US) are those that participate with the k12ltsp project.
I am part of a group which administrates around three dozen Linux servers. We have Novell groupwise on SuSE (which incidentally is the one part of our Linux implementation I wouldn't recommend to anyone though not because of anything with Linux), web services, proxy and filter services, and a bunch of file & print servers including about two dozen domain controllers/members.
OTOH we can get virtually nobody to look at a desktop. Recently we've seeing what seems to be the beginnings of resistance even to our server implementation and can no longer get folks to consider free/open options to commercial software. The reason may not be popular with some.
There is simply too much money available.
At least for things other than staff.
Staff indeed gets cut to the bone (you can count our staff members to run our city wide network & server infrastructure on one hand) but we buy lots of OTHER STUFF all the time thanks at least in part to USF, government money and millage increases. Our operations team tried to push simple things like Open Office and the Gimp etc. on our windows desktops. It was determined everyone needs MS Office (and Photoshop if graphics are necessary).
Folks who believe schools are underfunded need to understand that the complaints from schools about underfunding seem to come up when the schools can no longer afford the top of the line or easiest method - not when they can't get it at all. Staff is the exception. That, as I mentioned, is often cut to the bone. But there is simply plenty of money for the other stuff.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 21:37 UTC (Fri) by dhess (guest, #7827) [Link] OTOH we can get virtually nobody to look at a desktop. Recently we've seeing what seems to be the beginnings of resistance even to our server implementation and can no longer get folks to consider free/open options to commercial software. The reason may not be popular with some. There is simply too much money available.Sorry to hear that. Fortunately, my experience has been the opposite. This summer I've been volunteering in the GNU/Linux lab at a San Francisco 5-8 middle school, and it gets a fair amount of use. My understanding is that the school has very little money available for equipment. There's a Mac lab of approximately 12 computers, and there are a handful of Windows machines in a few other classrooms, but that's it as far as machines running proprietary OSes. On the other hand, the GNU/Linux lab has about 30 machines, all but 3 of them donated by ACCRC; the other 3 were paid for by the meager $10k the school received from a recent Microsoft vs. State of California settlement. Given how little money they have for equipment purchases, I think it's significant that the school was willing to use that money to purchase hardware for the GNU/Linux lab. The lab is 100% operated and maintained by unpaid volunteers, especially the efforts of one guy who, by my estimation, probably puts in at least 30 hours a week helping out, including assisting teachers during lab time with the students. His persistence and evangelism are directly responsible for the lab's existence. Students are in the lab 3 days a week. I haven't attended a class session, but I gather that there are at least 3 or 4 teachers who are enthusiastic about the lab and make good use of it. The kids use the machines in the lab for creative writing, online research for homework and reports, and music composition, among other activities. The school is located in a relatively poor neighborhood, and many of the students who attend are underprivileged. At least some of the administration and teaching staff appear to have an appreciation for the "freedom" part of free software, and I think that's part of the reason why the lab is a success. Anyway, not all schools have "too much money" for technology. Those that don't are probably good candidates for using free software. But because most people lack the expertise it takes to install and maintain a lab full of computers, let alone computers running GNU/Linux, someone needs to step in and provide that expertise to these schools. Some of the teachers also need assistance locating and installing educational free software, especially the teachers who aren't predisposed to free software in the first place. These are all areas where the free software community can help out, especially those who aren't coders and are looking for a way to contribute.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 16:48 UTC (Fri) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]
This simply avoids the question. Such a sysadmin can't support a windows network as well without some second-level support. Where's the second-level support for Linux?
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 4, 2008 20:22 UTC (Thu) by jmorris42 (subscriber, #2203) [Link]
Yes it is a symptom of a more general disfunction in the schools.
That said, down here in the LA swamps Linux in the schools is going just fine on the backend. But the desktops are the exclusive property of Dell and Microsoft and will be unless the entire education system gets upended.
First off, one must understand what the purpose of the schools are today. Hint: students are NOT a priority, they are props. The US government school system is run by and for the benefit of the teachers; more specifically the teacher's unions. Adn there is one important fact about teachers that impacts this subject: Teachers are more resistent to learning new things than almost any other groups of people one could name. The kids could care less if you loaded OO.o and taught that, but the teachers won't hear of it, even if you found a good textbook. Change Bad! Not Want!
The argument that 'the kids need to learn Windows/Office because that is what they will encounter in the real world' doesn't hold water. Unless you believe an 8th grader today will be able to find an XP machine running Office 2003 by the time they finish college and enter the workforce. All those Apple II clones kids learned on back in the 80's sure helped em get ready for Windows 95/98.
Even the large software vendors could at least be brought to ensuring Wine compatibility with just one or two large school systems going over. Remember that educational software tends to be low tech stuff, it wouldn't be a problem.
Nope, every possible issue can be addressed except resistence to change, but since teachers have an absolute veto the conversation ends before it even begins.
Who care about the wasted money? Remember this is government agencies, the people making the decision don't care, the IT people implementing it don't really care and neither do school boards unless the budget gets so tight they can't afford a new stadium they are happy to submit purchase orders to Dell for new shiny Windows boxes.
And then it gets worse. Schools get lots of technology grant money that HAS to be spent certain ways. So given an option to get in on a grant that will pay for new shiny Dells or to pass it up and spend local money to do a LTSP project with the hardware you already have, which option is the winning decision?
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 4, 2008 20:52 UTC (Thu) by kerick (subscriber, #53036) [Link]
That's the truth.
Administrators Posted Sep 4, 2008 21:21 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link] Actually not. The school system is run for the benefit of the administrators, who call themselves "educators" because they don't teach. Students, teachers, schools, and buses are all props. You can derive this objectively by tracing budgets and salaries, although the teachers' union confuses matters just a little.
Administrators Posted Sep 4, 2008 21:58 UTC (Thu) by bucky (guest, #53055) [Link]
You can also derive this by the necessity of a teacher's union in the first place, and the perverse preference of seniority over merit. No teacher would choose either unless their relationship with the administration was adversarial. These are refuges of last resort.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 4, 2008 21:11 UTC (Thu) by johnkarp (subscriber, #39285) [Link] The US government school system is run by and for the benefit of the teachers; more specifically the teacher's unions.If thats the case, they aren't very good at it. Given how poorly teachers are paid in many areas in the US. If there's a root cause, I'd say that many communities simply don't prioritize education very highly, and are not very invested in the process. Everything else (insufficient funding, incompetent boards, ineffectual teachers) follows from that.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 2:07 UTC (Fri) by allesfresser (subscriber, #216) [Link]
I'll second that in a heartbeat. People in general just don't care about education, because they don't see the connection to maintaining a civilized society. If something doesn't immediately affect their paycheck, quarterly profits, or probability of hooking up with a Desirable Object of Affection(TM), it's off their radar.
Yes, I'm a cynic.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 4:33 UTC (Fri) by PO8 (guest, #41661) [Link]
When I was a boy, my school district was about the first in the US to just shut down and refuse to open back until they received adequate funding to operate. It turned out *great*, and I wish they'd do it again.
It was funny to watch people waking up to how much they wanted and needed the schools once they started to contemplate doing without them. It was a terrible ruckus in the short run. It took about two months to reopen the schools. In the long run, there was a 10 or 15 year period where the community voted huge dollars and put huge priority on the schools.
Those were the days.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 4, 2008 21:14 UTC (Thu) by southey (subscriber, #9466) [Link]
In addition, schools are usually buying hardware/software/support/warranties bundles. Changing one part of the equation may void the support/warranties part (since they have the expectation that these are actually useful).
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 4, 2008 22:28 UTC (Thu) by xbobx (subscriber, #51363) [Link]
I don't know about primary or secondary education, but at least in university the Microsoft stuff is essentially free. I've heard it equated to cigarette companies hooking teenagers, or drug dealers giving free samples the first time; if you can get students used to using your stuff when it's free then they'll either cough up the money for it, steal it, or have a hard time switching to something else once it's no longer free.
Microsoft has tons of educational "outreach" deals. My university had a bunch of brand-new Dell/WinXP boxes that were donated (by Dell/MS, I believe) that mostly went unused, and some older Linux boxes that more often than not were all taken although they were slower and more numerous. On top of this, we had some MSDN educational deal where we could request educational licenses for any Visual Studio stuff we wanted for free (although nobody I know actually did).
So I don't think it's entirely the fault of the schools; it's really shoved down their throats.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 1:05 UTC (Fri) by jengelh (subscriber, #33263) [Link]
It's worse than that. From my old school I heard (back when I was there) "all you need to do is write a nice letter to Microsoft you love them and it [hard or software] comes along". The nice letter may require a bit of brainpower, but if schools do it like that, I mean, that's the perfect way for a company to bind people to their software - you don't even need to advertise, they come by themselves!
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 7, 2008 3:20 UTC (Sun) by dwkunkel (guest, #5999) [Link]
In our organization, we find that summer college interns that are interested and familiar with Linux are the cream of the crop. Those that don't have Linux experience gain it quickly when it becomes clear that is key delimiter.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 5:17 UTC (Fri) by tetromino (subscriber, #33846) [Link]
The simple reason is that in the US school setting, Linux has no compelling advantage over Windows.
Generally, what are the arguments for Linux adoption?
Since in a school Linux has no obvious advantages over Windows, when it comes time to make a purchase, the OS chosen will be the one that the teachers and administrators are most familiar with - and that means Windows.
Public schooling is dominated by politics. Posted Sep 5, 2008 8:09 UTC (Fri) by AnswerGuy (guest, #1256) [Link]
The simple fact, that tax funded schools are dominated by political machinations, is forever obscured by rhetoric about "education" and the welfare of children.
Of course some education actually takes place, and some of the lessons learned are even related to the intentional topics. Unfortunately it seems like this is incidental to most of the activity surrounding schools, school boards, funding and spending. On top of that we're forever distracted by raging controversies and debates about appropriate content and socio-political biases that are being imparted on our poor impressionable children.
The whole concept is guaranteed to disenfranchise large numbers of people in any diverse population. (Everyone, who can't afford private schooling for their children, will feel that their values and/or religious beliefs are being neglected and that their "poor impresssionable children" are being indoctrinated -- even some of us godless heathen agnostics and atheists will end up get offended by some of the references that do leak into the system).
So you have a system of legally mandatory schooling in an economic environment that makes it impossible for a significant number of families to afford private alternatives. In essence it is a huge government daycare and indoctrination system.
Keep enough kids out of the house for long enough each day that a significant number of families can have dual incomes, at least part of the year, while turning out masses of people with just enough literacy and competence in arithmetic to function as organic robots in our assembly lines and fast food joints --- with only a few managing to glean any real education out of the system. (Most learning is probably accomplished outside of the classroom by self-motivated kids and parents). Thus we prepare the next generation of meat machines (laborers ... "human resources") while enabling our industry to squeeze more time out of the current generation.
The philosophical implications of our system are pretty grim. The politics of free software barely scratch the surface of the systemic problems therein.
Public schooling is dominated by politics. Posted Sep 5, 2008 12:26 UTC (Fri) by tetromino (subscriber, #33846) [Link]
I spent 5 years in US public schools, 4 of them in a free but highly selective IB program implemented inside one of the high schools in the county.
It did not feel like daycare or an indoctrination system. My fellow students did not look like organic robots - they were being taught to think critically by teachers who were passionate about their subjects. Most of the history teachers, for example, went out of their way to explain that there are different ways of looking at a historical event and that one should critically examine all primary sources (keeping in mind that the sources might be wrong or deliberately lying) before making a judgment.
[And back to the subject: I don't think my former high school could have easily switched to Linux. The teaching was pretty good, but computer competence was problematic.]
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 10:33 UTC (Fri) by PinTail (guest, #41983) [Link]
It easy !
Computer science is not being taught. What is being taught is how to be a data entry clerk and operate the most common office suite in the world.
Please, let's call it what it is.
It's not education, it's training.
If it were education, we wouldn't be trainging to use MS Word or MS Excel, we'd be teaching how an Operating System interacts with the hardware.
If it were free education, you'd be free to *not* attend.
The system is designed to maintain the status quo.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 5, 2008 12:11 UTC (Fri) by Xanadu (guest, #1215) [Link] If it were education, we wouldn't be trainging to use MS Word or MS Excel, we'd be teaching how an Operating System interacts with the hardware. My Son is now in 4th grade. When he was in 2nd, one of his school projects was to make a PowerPoint Presentation about an animal of his choosing. He chose the Rock Hopper Penguin (I was coaxing him towards the Gentoo penguin, but he liked the look of the Rock Hoppers better... :-) ). Following your logic, he learning nothing meaningful, nothing transferable, and nothing of substance. Hmmm... Well, when I open his presentation in OOo's Presenter, he was able to get back to finishing it up. I also showed him how to use The GIMP to make a couple (quick) edits to one of the pictures he wanted to use in his presentation. So how was it a waste of his education (not that you used the word "waste", I understand). He was able to hop on my Gentoo machine, use 100% FOSS to get done what he needed to get done. Just because they were INITIALLY teaching him to use PowerPoint, that doesn't mean that he's not learning anything. Yes, I realize that you were talking about Computer Science in general and I'm getting some-what specific, but the point still stands; just because they are being taught to use an MS app, doesn't mean that CAN'T use something else just as efficiently. P.S. They are also taught to use OS-X in his school too. These days he hates using Windows. That's not from my encouragement (though, I am a bit guilty of a little bit of steering...), that's from using other things. He uses OS-X at school, Linux/KDE when he's with me, and XP when he's with his Mom. He's made his decision that he likes KDE the best with OS-X being a close second. Windows is WAY at the bottom. He's only 9 (now...).
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 6, 2008 9:27 UTC (Sat) by gdt (subscriber, #6284) [Link] I don't know about the USA. At my local government-run primary school in Australia we trialled Linux in one of the four computing suites. Mixed results. Software. Enough software exists, which was a large and welcome surprise. Probably due to the move to web applications and Flash. But the software isn't in a finished enough state. TuxPaint lacks the huge richness of KidPix's stamps. AbiWord and OpenOffice lack templates. Clip art sucks. In short, software is not in a good enough state to hold people's attention and motivation. There's probably enough parts floating around (OpenClipArt springs to mind), but there's not enough work on delivering that with the software (eg, OpenOffice won't work with OpenClipArt's SVG files). And if time-pressed school sysadmin-teachers need to do part assembly, then you've failed anyway. Support. Lacking. Totally. Not supported by the education department. Not supported by firms which sell into primary education. Linux isn't even supported well by Linux vendors (compare Microsoft's knowledge base documentation on networking to the available documentation for NetworkManager). Searching the GNOME help text for a Windows or MacOS equivalent program nearly always comes up short: surely a cross-reference so that searching for "instant messenger" returned some Pidgin pages wouldn't hurt? The lack of support from the department is particularly harmful as it erodes one of Linux's major advantages -- its scalability of system administration. A central team could do the routine management of the tens of thousands of computers in a school system, at considerable savings. As it stands, just getting Linux-friendly authentication is painful. GUI system administration for Linux still doesn't cut it. Configuring stuff from the GUI works. But unlike Windows and MacOS, it is impossible to debug issues from the GUI tools if you don't already know the command line. (For example, "Connection information" in NetworkManager lacks a button to test the reachability of the default router, you've got to know you need the "ping" command, front-ended under "System Tools | Network tools | Ping".) What we know. There's a two hour window for system support each week. So there's a strong preference for stuff which is known to work. There are some really good things. The assumption in almost all programs that resources are remote is really useful -- there are still many Windows programs that don't work correctly on a LAN. The single installer is really useful -- trojans could obviously be written for Linux, but they are unlikely to be installed since downloading things through browsers isn't the way Linux software is installed. My view is that Linux is a viable alternative, and it's well worth running Linux at the backend and in some of the computing facilities in the school. It gives the older primary school students a different experience of computing, and that is welcome in helping older students distinguish essential concepts from implementation details. If you want to get more Linux into primary schools, then improve the software, especially in doing the last 10% of effort in providing materials and documentation. If you a looking for a killer application, a simple-to-use, network-exploiting presentation authoring tool would be really handy (eg, grabs photos from Flickr, etc).
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 6, 2008 19:26 UTC (Sat) by dmaxwell (guest, #14010) [Link] TuxPaint lacks the huge richness of KidPix's stamps.Actually, I successfully replaced KidPix with TuxPaint. When we were still using KidPix, we had Macs running OS 8.6 and 9.2. KidPix was the biggest source of instability and said instability was frequent. I was overjoyed to kick that overpriced crap off my network. That may not be true of an OS X native KidPix but since everyone has had over three years to get used to TuxPaint there is no clamoring to switch back. What's more since TuxPaint is Good Enough, the administration wouldn't pay for it anyway. Apart from the reliability, TuxPaint got high marks for what you see as a flaw. Teachers thought the excess of stamps and precooked backgrounds made drawing pictures too effortless. Kids were just rearranging provided content rather than creating their own. These days, TuxPaint is starting to accumulate more stamps and backgrounds. I wouldn't be surprised if I were asked to cut those down at some point.
Linux in U.S. Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 8, 2008 0:28 UTC (Mon) by sandmannc40 (guest, #53793) [Link]
I know all too well the frustration. Having pushed Linux in the local school it was dropped. So much for educated personnel.
Linux in U.S. /ALL/ Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 8, 2008 7:27 UTC (Mon) by csawtell (subscriber, #986) [Link] Public schools the world over are, in effect, run by elected politicians.Let's listen in at a couple of election meetings. Scenario One:- Politician from party A: As you are all only too well aware, we are all living in very uncertain times. It's not easy for anybody, and that includes the Government. In common with all government activities, the cost of educating the Nation's children has to be examined carefully and brought under closer control. In order to save many millions, and at the same time generate jobs locally, I have instituted a program to carefully and slowly bring the use of Free Software into our schools. It will take time, but the savings will be very substantial. Please note that I am quite certain that your children's overall education will not be affected in any meaningful way. We will use some the money saved in our schools to raise the parental income limit for the qualification for free lunches. As ours is are caring and humane society, I'm quite sure that every thinking voter will support my decision to economise on the use of very expensive commercial software, and to spend the savings, quite transparently, on the more unfortunate, deprived and vulnerable members of the under-class. Thinking Voter: Oh yea! The mean skinflint! He's depriving my child of a full education, and blowing the savings on a bunch of ...! Vote for that semi-animated sausage? Never! Ever!! Scenario Two:-
Politician from party B: Thinking Voter: Wow! They have got the message that our children are worth millions. He's looking after our children! I think I'll vote for him when the time comes. Honestly, It's that simple.
Sad election meeting scenarios Posted Sep 9, 2008 0:52 UTC (Tue) by pr1268 (subscriber, #24648) [Link] You've painted a sad picture of election-time politics. Not that I disagree with you--in fact, I can all-too-painfully see how your scenario would/could play out in the next two months in the U.S.A. (seeing how this is a national election year). Seeing how humans notoriously take the path of least resistance, and also how politicians will make the easiest-to-parse campaign pledge which persuades the most voters their way, this could indeed happen here in good ol' America. But, hey, that's politics...
Linux in U.S. /ALL/ Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 10, 2008 12:06 UTC (Wed) by lacostej (guest, #2760) [Link]
Politician from party C:
I have just secured millions of dollars in funding from the central government bean counters, but instead of using it on expensive pre-packaged software, we will use it more wisely. We will also provide a more open and diverse education system, making our kids both more knowledgeable and adaptable to varying environments, but also generate local jobs, making our economies and communities stronger. Not only that, but we still end up saving money and stay competitive in the long run.
Thinking Voter: ???
Linux in U.S. /ALL/ Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 10, 2008 21:34 UTC (Wed) by pr1268 (subscriber, #24648) [Link] Politician from party C: And exactly where is party C's candidate's constituency? Fantasyland? My snarly comment isn't meant as an attack against lacostej's, but rather at the sheer unlikelihood of his/her scenario. It would certainly be nice, though, to have candidates like party C's.
Linux in U.S. /ALL/ Schools: Why the Resistance? (IT Management) Posted Sep 12, 2008 13:07 UTC (Fri) by jmmc (guest, #34939) [Link]
I like your option. Yet, I find an acute lack of this 'party C' opinion in the US / my state /my town / my School District representation as much as I'd probably align myself with that option as a voter.
As much as an optimist as I've tried to be (hey, I was still optimistic past my 40th ! - and I have (small) kids !, not bad eh ?...I'm still under 50, but the recent years have not helped me to remain optimistic). The local Primary turnouts in my voting district rarely top 40%, in ANY election year. Our mayors are elected by a total of ~30K people (and that the vote TOTAL, which means the 'winner' gets in office with ~15-20K votes), in a city of 120,000-135,000. Hardly 'representative'.
Point: (imho) People are SO UNengaged in their local politic or so pummeled with poor school boards, entrenched teacher/administrator conflicts, Federal/State government school funding shenanigans, etc. that even getting into this dicussion about what software schools use brings shrugs/non-interest/indifference.
Where I felt Apple in 80's actually was (somewhat ?, altruistically ?...even a little ?) interested in providing the Mac as an actual 'tool for learning' in schools, I think the shrewd folks at MS simply pounced on the confused, cracking public school infrastructure in the '90s and, like an earlier poster noted, went with a Pepsi/Coke/Cigarette approach of 'promote often / addict early' and enticed frustrated school Admins with 'deal-with-devil' / 'path of least resistance' offers they couldn't refuse.
Thank You For Powerpointing (smoking) !, indeed...
And, why isn't it promoted that Government funded institutions (schools) NOT use products of a company (MS) the their own institution (Gov't) CONVICTED (!) of monopolistic behavior ?!
Re: Thinking Voter ? (thinking... we are so screwed ;)
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