From the Desktop: E Stands For Education

By: Brian Proffitt
Tuesday, October 24, 2000 06:12:22 AM EST
URL: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/2522/1/

Linux in the Schools

This week I am going to take a different tack--let's go for activism, starting with one of those open letters that readers like to read and my editors cringe to see. I'll resume my focus on the X window managers next week with a look at another E: Enlightenment.

Dear Linux Community...

I'll be blunt.

Quicher bellyaching and let's get off our collective butts and start fixing what's wrong with computer education in this world (or at least in the United States)!

Instead of using this bass-ackwards halfway approach to computer education that's leaving our kids completely unprepared for the real world and basically placing them in servitude to the Microsoft platforms, let's start using all of our technical wizardry to give kids the real stuff.

The seed for this idea started a couple of weeks ago, when I volunteered to help move some furniture donated to my daughter's school. During the course of this strenuous and back-breaking work (I'm a writer, not a weightlifter!), the discussion came around to recruiting me for the school's technology committee, since they seemed to think I knew something about computers.

Several of my readers might disagree with this assessment, but who am I to argue with this notion, particularly since I am too winded to do anything but nod my head? Thus I joined the school's technology committee.

A little background: this year my daughter started attending a small private school in the process of building a new building a few miles away. The tech committee is working with the building architects and a very limited budget to set up the technology for the new facility. This is everything, by the way: phones, networks, servers, clients--the whole shebang.

After I caught my breath several hours later, I began to dedicate a few synapses to this problem of low budget and technology--a problem that many schools, public or private, seem to grapple with all the time. I did not know what or if the rest of the committee was thinking, but I began to wonder if one good way to save money would be to install Linux on the PCs in this new building.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. After all, why did the platform have to Windows or Mac OS? Linux could accomplish all of the same things that an educational platform needed. Mentally, I ran down that little checklist Linux users carry in their heads to anticipate arguments about our beloved platform.

Argument #1: Linux isn't compatible with anything. And a Mac is? Please! If compatibility is what you want, look no further than StarOffice. Heck, it'll even save things in XyWrite format! Students can have a full-fledged office suite compatible with anything they have at home. We've got PDF readers, very capable browsers--the whole gamut of software that'll run most things a student needs.

Argument #2: Linux does not have educational software. Okay, they might have us there, because Reader Rabbit for Linux and similar apps are not out yet. I have two counters to that. The first is WINE. If the Linux community really works to get WINE more stable on Linux boxes, that should take care of the immediate needs of running specialized children's software.

The second answer to #2 is more market-driven: if educational institutions turn to Linux, then I guarantee existing education developers will start writing to where the audience is. A little boost from the existing Linux companies won't hurt in this regard, but I'll get to this point later.

Argument #3: Linux is too hard to use. For who? If we're talking about the student, listen: a Linux box running KDE or Gnome is not going to throw off any kid over the age of four any more than Windows will. If we're talking about school system admins who have to set this stuff up and maintain it, I will concede there is a real knowledge gap for MS admins to jump to get to be Linux admins.

That's where we come in.

Our Chance to Do Good... and Stick It to the Man

All of these arguments are just varying examples of so much FUD. We all know that. This is a chance to prove this nonsense wrong in an environment that would be pretty receptive to our help.

We can be the ones who help bridge that knowledge gap. We can go into a school system armed with the knowledge and the experience to get solid computers in every classroom that needs them. We can assist existing admins to make the cross-over and provide volunteer assistance for them after the fact. We can help train them in general admin work, platform integration (because those Mac and Windows machines won’t go away overnight), and better security... just for starters.

In addition to negating the three arguments mentioned above, here are some real advantages of using Linux in the classroom.

Advantage #1: Stability. How many teachers have to waste valuable class time messing around with blue screens of death or little bomb message boxes? Teachers do not have the time, or often the expertise, to deal with this. Give them an always-up platform that they don't have to be techies to use.

Advantage #2: Flexible configuration. Linux boxes can be set up to run as anything from full-blown developer's boxes with every library and toolkit to quiescent little setups running cute bunny flash card programs for kindergarteners. Admins can lock these setups down, too, thus preventing the common "I can't find my icons" error. Systems with less of a lock would give students training in interface setup and workflow management, too. Oh, and since Linux can run circles around Windows on older machines, did I mention that Linux hardware is cheaper than Windows hardware? That'll put a gleam in any school board member's eye.

Advantage #3: Security. This goes without saying for Linux users and it is a real need in schools. How many script-kiddies out there can blow away the so-called security on a Windows system? Right, rhetorical question. Put a Linux system in and you'll definitely shut down the casual hackers.

There're more ways Linux can help, of course. I think the fact that it's is a little rough around the edges is an advantage as well. Why should we spoon-feed our kids with an interface a four-year old can use? Yes, the interface should be transparent, but a little challenge is fundamental to learning.

I am charging the Linux community today, right here and now, to start helping their local community schools to get a real computer education curriculum in place, with real computers.

I am not saying drop everything to do this, either. I know what the time demands are on us all: work, family, friends--it's huge, it adds up. Nor am I saying we should all trade our pocket protectors for tweed jackets and print skirts and become teachers. I am saying do what you can.

Talk to your local school's systems admins and see what their problems are. Offer to help in little ways, if need be. Let them borrow a Linux book or two and let them become Linux advocates in their own systems.

LUGs and LUCs: want something to do with your meetings besides scarf cookies and talk tech? Run an installfest, only this time at a local school. Take the newbies along and let them learn about Linux at the same time you're training the school employees.

Don't like kids? Fine, you don't need to. In fact, go down to the high school and offer to tighten security. When the script-kiddies start playing around, give them a virtual smackdown and work out your own frustrations. Raise the bar, make them work to get into the system. And when they do, don't kick them out of school for hacking into Mrs. Johnson's grade database. Reward them and challenge them to build a secure system that even their friends can't hack. Make it a contest.

The ways we can help are as varied as the twisted personalities that got us into Linux in the first place. And we needn't do it alone.

I further challenge the Linux software corporations, big and small, to start putting up funds and expertise needed to start getting systems to the schools that need them. Help school admins figure out what they really need so they can get the most bang for the buck. Start working with school boards to develop practical course guides for schools. You know what you want from new employees, so tell the schools!

I call on PC manufacturers to start offering special pricing for hardware sans Windows installs so schools don't have to pay for an OS license they are not going to use.

Oh, and Loki Software? Love you guys, but start cranking out some ported educational software along with that next new version of Quake, okay? How hard would that be? You can start by selling it to all of the Linux parents who have to keep a Windows machine around for their kid's software.

If you can't be convinced just through sheer altruism, then think of the future benefits to all of IT if a new crop of technically literate graduates hits the streets in as little as four years. Not only technically literate, but Linux-savvy.

Nay-Sayers may point out the Mac's stagnation, despite its apparent high instance of use in the education system in the United States. I agree. Just because an operating system is in use in the schools does not guarantee its widespread use after school is out. We need to train them, too.

This is something neither Apple or Microsoft has ever done in the primary and secondary education levels in North America. Why is that? Simple, in the case of Microsoft: wait until the kids are out of school and in the job market before offering training. "Sure," Microsoft croons, "you can be an MCP and put that on your resume, just draft that check to us, and you'll be all set."

Pay for MCP? Are they kidding? I have nothing against high-level certification programs, but to have to pay any fee for what amounts to little more than basic user training is ridiculous.

Schools should not make the use of the computer secondary to some other goal all of the time. Make the operating system the learning goal as well as the tool. Teach kids how to work a console. Have them understand the Internet's foundations as well as its superficial flash. Show them basic scripting.

Obvious statement: computers are right now a huge part of our lives and they are going to play an even bigger role very soon. Do we really want a bunch of knuckleheads getting overly dependent on what the corporations feed them?

So why is it we are giving our kids hand-me-down equipment, software, and curricula? Forget the hand-me-downs. Give them cutting edge.

Oh, and for the people who say "that's not our job, that's what taxes are for," I say get your heads out of the sand and look around. Wait for the government to do something meaningful in a timely manner? In the U.S. (and most of the Western world), you are the government. Start telling the school boards and the congresspersons what Linux can do. Don't complain to us about the FUD from Redmond, you're preaching to the choir. Go convince your government representative why Linux is so great. That's a real challenge.

I admit, this won't be easy. Things that are worth it never are. You may run into school politics, runny-nosed kids, and worst of all, Microsoft reps. But if we can pull this off, we will have advanced the cause of Linux and certainly helped a more than a few kids get better prepared for the technological future we all face.

Peace,

Brian

P.S.: If you or some LUG you know has started or will start something along these lines, let me know. I look forward to sharing your success.