[nzlug] OSS in Nz schools

[Stephen Judd]

One distinction I want to draw is between education and training.

If we are training school-leavers, then let them be trained in what
they will use when they leave school.

If we are educating children, then let them use and be taught with
whatever has the greatest pedagogical value.

Naturally other considerations (cost, freedom, etc) come into play,
but a lot of the argument in favour of commercial software seems to
have an underlying assumption that the function of the school is
vocational training.

Certainly many employers think that. I think that's a valid function -
schools have always taught things that would lead directly to
employment or apprenticeships, like metalwork, and tech drawing, and
so on. But schools are supposed to educate too.

For what its worth my daughter's primary school is almost entirely Mac
based, although I believe there may be a Linux server or two lurking
in the background. They mainly seem to use the Macs for producing
multimedia, presentations and so on. There is little or no teaching of
programming, which saddens and annoys me.

The Macs are probably ideal for what they use them for, but there is a
certain chicken-and-egg aspect to that - they have Macs and teach
based on what the Macs can do.

stephen