School teacher bans Linux

**evilfantasy** · #1 14th Dec 2008, 17:14

Talk about jumping to conclusions...

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...her-bans-linux

Quote:

A US school teacher has taken the somewhat stupid step of throwing the open source operating system Linux out of her classroom.

The teacher got her knickers in a twist when one of her students, Aaron was seen giving away free discs for the HeliOS Linux distribution and showing his mates how it worked on his laptop.

Her reaction was as though the boy was peddling drugs. The unnamed teacher apparently believed that anything that wasn't Windows was illegal and immoral. She confiscated the discs and put him on detention.
But not satisified with that, she wrote to the HeliOS distributer to complain about his giving Linux to children.

"I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful," she wrote.

She said that children look to adults for guidance and discipline and she was going to research to see if she could report the distributer, a bloke called Starks, to the cops.

"I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting Linux on these machines is holding our kids back," she wrote.
Her argument was that the world was ruled by Windows, and it was on almost all computers. "Putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison [sic] of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them..."

Writing in his bog, Ken Starks said that the letter from the unnamed school teacher showed what an uphill battle Linux people had in dealing with entrenched attitudes.

He wrote back telling her she should be ashamed for thinking that he was doing anything illegal. Starks told the woman that if she investigated anything she would discover that Linux did what it said on the tin and was a free as-in-cost and free as-in-license operating system.
"The fact that you seem to believe that Microsoft is the end all and be-all is actually funny in a sad sort of way," he said.

However he pointed out that the Vole pumps shedloads of cash into her teachers union so it probably was important that she "recommend" Microsoft Windows" or else she would might get reprimanded at the least or fired.

Stark said that the AISD purchases millions of dollars of Microsoft Software when that money could be better spent on educating our children.
"A dedicated School Teacher would recognize that fact and lobby for the change to Free Open Source Software and let the money formally spent on MS bindware be used on our kids. A teacher who cared about her students would do that," he wrote.

Stark told her that she should give Aaron his discs back. He is a brilliant kid and he's learned more using Linux than he ever did using Windows. Those disks and their distribution are perfectly legal and even if he was "disruptive", you cannot keep his property, he wrote.

Just to make sure he has arranged a meeting with the school's Superintendent.

"It looks like we will get to meet in his office when School starts again after the holiday.

"I am anxious to meet a person who is this uninformed and still holds a position of authority and learnedness over our children," Starks wrote.
It looks like this teacher might have allowed her ignorance about life, the universe and everything to get a wee bit out of control. µ

**cheesepuff** · #2 14th Dec 2008, 19:33

wow. We use Linux in my school a lot in programing class. that teacher fails.

**Bubba** · #3 14th Dec 2008, 21:27

What do you expect from Government indoctrination Centers, I mean public schools, Carbon? There is a REASON I saved all my money so I could send my child to a good private school (where they use Windows lol, just damn).

I was about to include an admonition about your insipid UN flag but saw you took it down lol.

**Carbon** · #4 15th Dec 2008, 07:45

What?

Anyway, this is nothing but OSS zealot astroturfing, and even if it wasn't the complaints would be valid. Public schools are partially for educating a workforce, and Windows is the dominant OS in the marketplace.

**pete21** · #5 15th Dec 2008, 09:57

ooo i wish i was back in school..in that school!! id love to prove her wrong

**YRTNEG** · #6 15th Dec 2008, 10:56

Its ok guys (acts normal)

*whispers* she works for windows *whispers*

(looks behind)

**Bubba** · #7 15th Dec 2008, 14:33

LOL Carbon on your reflagging. But a question that is related............

I have a copy of Redhat, I beleive, that I was going to put on my old computer to so i could learn Linux. Should I do it now or should i get one of those HeliOS discs? I have "been meaning" to learn Linux for about 25 years now............