Subject: [OT] Re: was: Distributing OpenOffice to schools
bryan@ak.net
Date: Wed Aug 13 2003 - 15:46:49 AKDT
On Wed, Aug 13, 2003 at 03:17:16PM -0800, Peter Q. Olsson <olsson@koyukuk.at.uaa.alaska.edu> wrote:
> Bryan-
>
> I agree with you in theory, but employers are more and more looking at ed.
> institutions to provide "off-the-shelf" employees that are good to go
> straight out of the box.
<snip>
Ah, but that's their problem. Job training is the responsibility of
the employer. Schools are supposed to serve the students, not employers.
What if a school prepares a student for the work force by giving him/her
a 100% Microsoft curriculum, an employer's dream, and then MS loses a DOJ
case, and gets broken up, bankrupted, or otherwise obliterated. That
world-class MS-trained student now has the marketable skills of a portrait
painter.
Microsoft is just an example. What if a school prepares a student for a
particular field, and because of some upswell in public opinion, or major
scandal of some sort, the entire field disappears, or is relegated to a
minor niche? Unless the student has an education in varied thought
processes and general skills, he/she will be up the creek without a paddle.
I've heard it said that the average person changes careers seven times
during a lifetime. Job training will not give that person what he/she
needs. Only an education will suffice.
There. Now I've got that off *my* chest. :)
Sorry for the OT thread. And I'll leave the rest of your message
to those more qualified to discuss it.
-- Bryan Medsker bryan@ak.net--------- To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org> with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
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