Subject: RE: a few dumb questions
From: stephen king (sking@chartercollege.edu)
Date: Sat May 04 2002 - 13:10:55 AKDT
Sorry, Kurt, I wasn't trying to flame you and I apologize if it seemed that
way. On an overall basis, in fact, I kind of agree with several of your
points. It's just that I've been sitting here growing more and more
agitated at the comments that some folks were making and it just all
unloaded when I read "lawsuit" in your e-mail. First, I'm a teacher by
profession, and a part-time IT person too. Second, I know some of the folks
who're entrenched in both the administration and the teaching side of ASD,
who're "fighting the good fight" against general illiteracy, so I do get
kinda rankled sometimes by some of the stuff I hear.
Some of the posts I've read say that people have already attempted projects
that've failed for one reason or another. If that applies to you, go ahead
and delete this e-mail now.
The educational process is a fairly segmented one, for better or for worse.
That means you need to be very specific about what you're attempting to
remedy. If you're looking to give kids exposure to Linux, then ASD's
bureaucracy is not at all the place to start...how 'bout calling a school
and offering to let their computer science class(es) tour your facility?
While they're there you can talk to a teacher who's trained...and might or
might not actually be good at it...in the art of curriculum development
about adopting some Linux into their classroom. Their IT department's far
more likely to allow a Linux box or two in the classroom when a teacher
wants it than they are with outsiders standing on the street with "lawsuit"
flaming out their mouths. Yet another idea would be to actually get
involved...become a teacher yourself...then you can introduce the curriculum
you want (um...yeah...that's a bit on the fantasy-level extreme, but it's
close enough). Third idea...if the "our kids" are actually your kids, go in
with them to school and talk to their teachers. Offer to help out...bring
in a linux box for the kids to play with. They might say no, in which case
you might have cause to rant, but even then try to consider the issue from
the (overworked, underpaid) teacher's side too before you go off on 'em.
If the bureaucracy is your target...run for School Board, folks. If you
think it can be done better, by all means try your hand at it. I'd vote for
you, but I can't, as I live in Wasilly. That is, however, why the system is
the way it is, and it's far less expensive for the school district to have a
change of power from the electoral process than for it to have to fight an
expensive lawsuit.
Stephen
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Sat May 04 2002 - 13:10:09 AKDT