Re: [school-discuss] How to present Linux to schools

[Matt Rowland <matt@paperlove.org>]

On Thu, Apr 25, 2002 at 12:58:03PM -0500, Kyle Hutson wrote:
> On 25 Apr 2002 at 10:49, Cameron Miller wrote:
> > To address "that's what they'll see in 'the real world'":
> >
> > Here is an example line I feed the professors at my current job,
> "Are
> > you teaching word processing or how to use a specific word
> processor?"
> 
> ...which is why I talked about vo-ed. At the elementary level,
> certainly, and perhaps even Jr. High. But for the people who will be
> getting into the job market in the next 2-3 years, Microsoft will
> still be dominant, with Corel a distant second.
> 
> I have one parent in particular who asks me about this constantly,
> and I've told her so. (And I've also told her we use Corel because
> the price is ~$5000/yr whereas MS is ~$21000/yr.) I'm still going to
> push the use of OpenOffice for the simple reason that students could
> take home a CD and install it legally.

It blows my mind that this is such a common stance these days. Seems
to me that most folks who are competent with computers got that way
because they had a little curiosity and the gumption to hunt through a few
help files, search the 'net, or simply browse through the menus to
find what they wanted.

Teaching students (or anyone, for that matter) where to point and
click to accomplish task X is really a disservice. It reinforces the idea that
the computer is a bizarre, magical device, when we should be trying to convey
the fact that it is just another tool that can be used well and wisely
or foolishly.

I run into it quite often at work, in fact...That is, I see far too
many adults who are lacking a certain level of self-reliance and
confidence in their own abilities. I frequently don't know the answers but
I do know *where* to find the answer and/or *how* to find the answer.
Similarly, poking around in an office software suite, you can develop
a feel for what goes where, what's associated with what, etc...and
move from that into a level of expertise and confidence far beyond
what being able to follow directions will give you.

So say you make it out into the 'real world' and need to do a mail merge...
Is it more valuable to have:

a) experience in high school with the standard business office suite, or
b) to have learned how to *deal* with computers -- how to spot a menu
item that sounds like it may lead to where you need to be, how to
search help files, how to find help on the Internet, and even when you
should just ask someone else for help...?

I would think the latter is far better training for the real world
than having access to MSOffice so you can memorize your pointing and
clicking in advance.

Just a (little|few) (s|c)en(se|ts)...

Matt

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