RE: [school-discuss] "Educating Tux" + IT apathy

["Scott Cowley" <scott.cowley@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Marilyn,

I like your attitude.
All that we can do in life is create and demonstrate better
alternatives.

You are right -- there are some "good ones" in skools, despite plenty of
bad ones.
Even in Rural Texas. (Bizness, ma and pa, students, bureaucrats and
teachers.)
It was just like that in New Hampshire where I taught.

Things are as they are because that is what they think they want.

And the greedy, stupid Ruling Class thinks that what it wants is a
crippled, stupid underclass.
And the crippled, stupid underclass thinks it wants what the greedy,
stupid Ruling Class has.

And the chain breaker is purported to be Education, but the chain maker
IS
(too often) Education. (Skool, Media, and Church, and Country.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
So, on to the ALTERNATIVES!
- Linux
- FOSS
- better access to the internet with recycled "thin clients"
- student-generated art galleries
- cheap Wiimote-based whiteboards
- strong, informed, revolutionary adults (M/F)
- Real problems needing solving...
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
	-> how do things break?
	-> how to make things strong?
	-> how to approach the unknown (and other scary problems)
	-> where are the resources?
	-> isn't our blue planet beautiful, interesting and fun?
	-> what is it like to be grown up?
	-> what do the boys like?
	-> what do the girls like?
	-> what do I like?
	-> what do other animals like?
	-> how do you talk to others?
	-> how do you work with others?
	(add to list)
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
- inclusive community
- individual accountability
- failure AND Another Chance
- diverse peoples
- multiple stories

(keep on adding to list. Please.)

FINALLY:
Arise ye slaves of exploitation!
Arise ye wretched of the earth!
For justice thunders condemnation:
A better world's in birth!

Zeus Bless y'All on this list for trying!

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Marilyn
Hagle
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: [school-discuss] "Educating Tux" + IT apathy

Joel and James,

Oh my . . . state testing and bureaucratic straitjackets!  Don't get me
started!

And also the dumb ass  proprietary software packages that promise
miracles (forgive me - I am originally from Iowa where we are plain
spoken folks) - that's another topic.

Getting my students to be creative has been more of a stretch this year
than ever before.  They have spent all of their time in school preparing
for tests.  I feel like I need to bring my little kids' building blocks
and just let them play.

And rural Texas schools do not believe in the importance of offering
fine arts courses.  Very few schools have choir.  Art classes are
minimal.  Band is sometimes required for football programs.  :)

So, I think you just need to do what you can, wherever you can, for as
long as you can.  This year I am using Linux for everything and having a
blast - but I know I make some people nervous.

Hey . . . what do you think about hosting a fine arts gallery for
student work created with FOSS?  Have we talked about this already?  I
am not big into contests where there is only one winner . . . but a
celebration of student achievement with some positive critiques.  I
could send you some pretty cool student generated Blender, Gimp, and
Cinelerra files - then to the local people we can say "look at this!"

Maybe we need a formal online school that home school kids and rural
schools can afford that teaches music, art, science, poetry and general
creativity.

James . . . your additional comments on the dumbing down of ed tech
(whew!) really sum it up.  That quest for power thing screwed us.  Is it
just the natural sequence of organizational evolution?

To be fair, we all know there are many good people in the group too -
but it is definitely a mixed bag.

And yes . . . "But the brown sugar is in reality an artificially
sweetened hypnotic cleverly designed to make the worms more palatable."
LOL  :)

Thanks for letting me ramble on philosophically.

Marilyn





Quoting Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>:

> Marilyn Hagle wrote:
> 
> >Many in educational IT management - probably the middle managers who 
> >are misunderstood and struggling to keep everything running - are 
> >concerned about tightly controlling the teachers. After all . . .
> >they have been breaking copyright laws, pirating software, and 
> >inviting viruses and spyware into the LAN.  So now teachers 
> >everywhere are in lock-down mode.
> >Experimentation is thwarted, new ideas are discouraged, and 
> >creativity is scorned.
> 
> And let's not forget atrocities like the No Child Left Behind Act, 
> which forces teachers *and* students into bureaucratic straitjackets 
> and makes it incredibly hard to even think about changing anything. A 
> proprietary software package that is marketed with wild promises of a 
> "guarantee to boost scores on standardized tests" has a big edge over 
> any wild and risky creative things like GIMP or Tux Paint. If you 
> allow those misbehaving kids and teachers to start really 
> experimenting with any truly flexible software, who knows what kind of

> trouble we all might be getting ourselves into. . . .
> 
> Joel
> 
> 
> 
>      
>
________________________________________________________________________
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> 


:)