On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 01:10:13PM +1000, Tony Morris wrote:
Hello FSB, I am a programmer working for NICTA at Spring Hill. I was directed to this mailing list by a friend who I meet at Brisbane Functional Programming Group (BFPG). I have been using functional programming in industry for about 13 years. I am a former lecturer at universities, however, I became somewhat disillusioned to the university agenda around 2007 (long rant omitted).
I have been a relatively passive advocate for free software for approximately the same amount of time. I do not take a stance on the issue of free software as I see many others do.
I have children, now aged 11 and 13 who are beginning their high school education. Both of my children have grown up using the linux operating system and related GNU software at home. Their school has proposed a "bring your own laptop for education" program. The proposal specifically mentions that Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX be used. I do not know if this proposal intends to insist on either of these, or if they are listed merely because parents may be wondering if perhaps their existing laptop meets the requirements. For example, the proposal may intend to be diverse, but inadvertently only lists Windows and Apple in an effort to convey that diversity. The proposal then goes on to talk about "meeting minimum requirements" and discusses anti-virus software and so on.
Nevertheless, I have decided to take a stronger stance on this issue in that my children will not be using Microsoft nor Apple operating systems. I am looking for advice on how to approach this issue, because I have not taken a strong stance like this before. Whenever I worked in say, a corporate environment that "makes sure your windows updates are up to date" (for example), I have simply worked around whatever nonsense was put in front of me and with little protest. This is usually because I have some other orthogonal goal and so don't have the inclination to address the issue directly. In this case, I think the above proposal works directly against the goal (education) and so I am compelled to intervene.
My suggestion is to first simply raise the point that your child does not use Windows or OS X, and request that the policy be amended to be inclusive of other operating systems. I agree with your suggestion that the wording of the policy may simply be an artifact of a lack of awareness of other OSes. An alternative option is to just... fly under the radar, so to speak. Perhaps it is unlikely that students will be needing to use software that only runs on Windows or OS X, for which there is not a compatible free alternative that runs on GNU+Linux. If so, your child could try "going with the flow" - it may do little more than raise eyebrows. If, on the other hand, the suggestion of using, or the actual use of verboten OSen instead raises ire or suspicion, the objections will need to be tactfully discredited (easily done for "security reasons" and "tech support" - the only well-meaning objections I can think of). Additionally, strong arguments in favour of free software in the classroom can be made: the ability to learn how a system works, to customise a tool to be more effective, and to help a peer through sharing of knowledge, skills, and software. Points about vendor lock-in or the price of software are relevant and (hopefully) salient, but in my opinion secondary.
If anyone has tips on this matter or has addressed a similar issue before, I would greatly appreciate hearing about it. Thanks for listening.
I have not dealt with this issue before, but I'm sure we here will all appreciate hearing about how you go. Cheers, Fraser
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