Linux in schools?

[Peter Garrett]

On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 07:00:05 +1000
Daniel Mons <daniel.mons at iinet.net.au> wrote:
[snips]
> And another question: why do we teach kids how to do art on paper
> instead of computer?  Why tech drawing on paper?  Why music with
> instruments?  In "industry", all of this is done on computer.
> 
> The answer is we teach kids not what is the current industry standard,
> but instead what are the fundamental educational building blocks. 
 
Right.

> It's more important for a child to pick up an instrument and play it than it
> is for them to learn how a midi synth works.   Learning music at it's
> core base will teach general skills that can be applied to
> computer-based music editing later in life.

It goes even deeper than this. The *state of mind* required for music and
art has fundamental roots - the best way, for example, to teach the state
of mind required for art has always been to teach drawing.

In other words, an artist who can't draw is severely limited, not by the
inability to draw "per se" , but because drawing is the road to being able
to switch into the mental mode required for art.
> 
> Why then are we so afraid to do the same in IT?  Why must we teach
> "Microsoft Office 2007" rather than the fundamental building blocks of
> word processing, spread sheeting, and other office tasks, independent of
> platform?

I agree with your argument - I would go further, though, and say that what
should be taught is the "state of mind" required to solve problems in IT.
That implies that children should be exposed to the underlying logic and
language of computers as early as possible - and this is where Windows
falls flat on its face, whereas FLOSS allows anyone to look at code,
scripts, and so on. I believe any child could be taught, for instance,
simple bash scripting from an early age, a basis which would still be
relevant to any language later, since it teaches a *way of thinking about
problems*.

Of course, the powerful people don't really want the populace to be
genuinely computer literate, just as the powerful did not want general
literacy centuries ago. That's about power, not education...

Unfortunately, I suspect that the "solution" implemented will be
superficial. I hope that I'm wrong.

Peter

-- 
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