Dr. Robert G. Rittenhouse wrote:
I am going to be teaching a High School computer course this fall, and one of the components I want to cover is databases and in particular SQL queries. I am going to use MySQL for my DB both because it's free and it's what I already have familiarity with.
A bit offtopic and at the risk of starting a flamewar I wouldn't really recommend MySQL for this role. Prefer to work with a more standard SQL compliant and more capable DBMS such as SAP DB/MaxDB or perhaps PostgresSQL.
On the other hand, MySQL is easily installed on both Linux and Windows and is well integrated in PHP and Apache, who run also on Microsoft. Mind you, I don't recommend Microsoft itself, but in teaching situations it is very convenient that the student can select an OS that he is familiar with.