Re: [OS:N:] Re: Questionaire about the support of students rights and the freedom in the learning environment

> > James Michael DuPont wrote:

> Alternatives exists for some things. Lets look at the case of a high
> school teacher that says the english report has to be delivered in word
> format. Examples like that are abounding. 

I write word documents, things ending in *.doc all the time.
im not using windows or MS office. If there wasnt something in free software 
that allowed that then i would agree with you but there are several, they are 
free and you get the source code. next?

Would it be more correct in your world to have the teacher have to buy several 
different software packages to read everyones reports? teachers aren't exactly 
paid very well and the schools dont have budget surplus's either. At this point 
anything you require a school to do that costs them more money requires it be 
taken away from an existing school program, like say lunch's and the quality of 
the food cant go down much further without being unedible in the end. The 
education system is crumbling under the weight of bureacracy and administrative 
costs. its the old to many chiefs and not enough indians analogy. we need more 
teachers not more administration.

> 
> These contracts are by design to take away rights. Students are being
> pressured into to agreeing with them, or the are not able to take part
> in the learning experience. 

download openoffice do your report and get on with it.

> You might say that they can choose not to
> take part, but is it fair for a taxpayer funded course to have these
> requirements? Who is benefitting from this? Are the contracts under any
> type of government control? Can a teacher in a local high school decide
> on his own to require the newest version of msword? 


I will admit that i havent been in school since before computers but i dont see 
that happening, maybe at the college level but not below. besides openoffice 
will write in a format even officeXP can open. You have downloaded installed and 
used it havent you?

> 
> I think that we have to look at the real issues at hand,

one of the issues you might look at is their budget, or lack thereof.
I am personally contacting the local school districts in my area to hand out 
knoppix for kids cd's and openoffice cd's, i urge everyone to do the same. I 
think that has more value both in the long term and the short term than arguing 
over what file format a report should be allowed to be returned in.

> and on the
> large scale, there is a wholesale removal of the rights of millions of
> students. They are not informed of their rights properly, and are given
> no real alternatives then to sign them away.

welcome to the bush world. we are losing rights all over the place faster than 
the amazon is losing tree's some in the name of national security, others in the 
name of corporate greed. There are larger issues that have the ability to 
greatly curb your ability to use free software that need activists badly. your 
fighting the effect, not the cause is what i mean to say.

find out who is the head of your local school district, call and try to make an 
appointment and bring in a laptop with a knoppix for kids cd. bring openoffice 
for windows cd's. let them know about free software, you may get kicked to the 
curb but you also might find a very receptive audience when you ask how much 
they pay for computer apps and show them how to dump the costly software and use 
free stuff and use the money saved back in the schools.
Tnt


> 
> mike
> 
> =====
> James Michael DuPont
> http://introspector.sourceforge.net/
> 
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
> http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Subscription and Archive: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/open-
> source-now-list/
> -
> For K12OS technical help join K12OSN:
> <https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn>


--
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
| Linux Solutions Provider, Linux Consultant and IT Services. |
0           Windows to Linux Migration Specialists            0
|              http://www.pervasivenetwerks.com               |  
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
              PGP Key Fingerprint
AA05 B115 5019 754A A151 04F2 822D A1C9 EAB6 AA5B



_______________________________________________
Subscription and Archive: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/open-source-now-list/
-
For K12OS technical help join K12OSN:
<https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn>