[ale] Palladium/MS: ideas for retaliation - OT now --RANT--

[Jeff Rose]

I don't think a band of uber-geeks will be able to topple the status quo
in public schools.  Think how hard it is to get them the things they
really need.  Almost impossible.  Where you need to start is by changing
students' attitudes.  Teachers don't care about Linux but students will
be eager to try it.  Especially the wee-geeks.  I say, don't try to
replace what they already have but give them a choice.  The schools
aren't going to pay for it so donations are about the only option.  Dig
up those old PC's and donate them to the school YOUR child goes to. 
Convince the computer teachers that giving the kiddies Linux as a
project to install and configure will be worthwhile.  Oh yeah, be sure
to mention the similarities to Unix, the importance of Unix and Linux in
enterprise and it wouldn't hurt to throw in a few articles about all the
companies switching to Linux, i.e. ILM, Disney, Merrill Lynch,
DreamWorks etc.  Just for kicks take in a copy of the AJC want adds and
show them how much a good Unix admin can earn.  Convincing teachers that
their students will benefit from and enjoy Linux will be far more
powerful than forcing teachers to replace everything they have, and
learn and teach something new.  Slow adoption is what it's all about. 
You can't beat the MS machine that quickly.  The key is getting people
to want to use Linux.  Then will come the developers and then the
playing field will be much more conducive to replacing the whole
infrastructure.  
	Maybe ALE or someone could sponsor a Linux donation program to a needy
school.  Couple that with Sun's institutional program and you have
yourself the seeds of change.  

 Wed, 2002-06-26 at 15:49, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> On Wed, 2002-06-26 at 15:01, Geoffrey wrote:
>   What about all that lotto money.  Think 
> > any of it goes to fund teacher pay increases?
> > 
> Not a dime goes toward teacher pay, nor teacher training, nor smaller
> classes. The vast majority of it has gone towards all those PC's in the
> class rooms. Most, the overwhelming majority, of the teachers don't
> utilize the PC's for anything more than a little typing and some web
> surfing. 
> 
> In Dekalb county, all of the student access software is pushed out on a
> Novell network. It is a huge pile of drivel garbage written for and sold
> by Jostens company. Yeah. The class ring scam people. The same scum
> buckets that do school yearbooks and are behind many of the
> "fundraisers" that the schools do. Much of that software is the most
> basic  (and boring) drill and test stuff I've ever seen. A Debian
> installation screen is better looking than the 12" monitored, IBM PC
> (really! I've seen them) hooked up with token ring.
> 
> The harsh reality of public school education is the teachers aren't
> going to push for anything better (or different) than what they already
> have. They don't/won't/can't use it already for a multitude of reasons.
> There are a precious few who have adopted the technology and could use
> anything put in front of them.
> 
> The school districts have no reason to change anything they are doing.
> As long as they are doing "the norm", their funding from the state and
> feds is intact. The district level decision makers are not leaders. They
> are brainless, ball-less minions who simply follow the wind.
> 
> The vast majority of education policy starts at the state level.
> Bubbaville in the capital. The IT decisions are heavily influenced by
> the rising power and influence of the Georgia Net Authority. GaNet
> recently rammed an "NT ONLY" policy downed the throats of state
> government offices for servers. Their argument was "consistent platform
> for better support". I'm glad I wasn't there during nimba and code-red!
> 
> The way to get Linux in schools is not to have LUGs asking to do the
> work, but have big companies "donate" the labor of the LUGs to do the
> work. If HP here in Georgia offered to provide Linux installation
> services for free to the Ga schools that would take it, then got LUGs to
> do the work, maybe even tossing a few $$ at the people doing it, and
> then making arrangements to provide support, through the LUGs at a
> reduce fee to the schools who took the offer, it MIGHT work.
> 
> But I'm pessimistic enough that Georgia is one of the "lost cause"
> states as far as education goes. So I don't see that spending much
> effort on it is anything but a waste of time compared to finding
> employment outside the south and moving. Georgia has been ranked in the
> bottom 5 states on quality of education since the records on education
> began. 
> 
> -- 
> James P. Kinney III   \Changing the mobile computing world/
> President and CEO      \          one Linux user         /
> Local Net Solutions,LLC \           at a time.          /
> 770-493-8244             \.___________________________./
> 
> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Jeff Rose
1914 Neely Ave
East Point, GA 30344

404-766-3885

jojerose at mindspring.com




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