those damn penguins! Giving away software! How's bill gates supposed to support his crippling matchbox car addiction if people don't have to pay for software!
Sounds to me like she was pretty ignorant about technology and reacted like most teachers would, in that she assumed that a group of laughing teenage boys were up to no good in some way.
Submitted by AggroBoy on Sat, 2008-12-13 04:33
Cheers Aggro! Part 2 should be compulsory reading, he does well in switching the debate back onto territory which is pretty constructive.
From the sounds of it the teacher in question acted perfectly reasonably in the context of a classroom.
Submitted by Nibbles on Sat, 2008-12-13 13:57
I don't think she did act reasonably! Rather than start hurling stones, she should of used fucking Google. Regardless of what happened after, what she did was not just ignorant it was ignorant without any desire to set it right. Which is idiocy.
If a teacher teaches something that is wrong and a student says "Hang on there, that's not right...". I expect the teacher to check up on their facts. They aren't some sort of fucking oracle. They should understand the limits of their knowledge and seek to rectify it when something is outside of their knowledge. The good teacher admits when they don't know something - regardless of how old the boys are - and then set about filling the hole. The initial action of confiscation was fine but it should have been followed with research. Had that step been taken, her letter would be pointless and so would the horrid reaction to it.
Stupidity is the facet of not wanting to cure ignorance. Unfortunate in daily life, inexcusable in teachers.
Submitted by brainwipe on Sun, 2008-12-14 23:16
I think you are over-estimating the ability (and indeed the desire to teach) of most teachers. Everyone I know who went into teaching did so as it was the soft option after university, rather than get a proper job...
Submitted by babychaos on Mon, 2008-12-15 07:41
Perhaps I was not clear enough there, it was "within the context of the classroom" which as far as I can tell is broken down as:
a) Kid being disruptive.
b) Kid using linux disks to be disruptive.
c) Teacher confiscates disks.
d) Teacher gives disks back.
Seems fair enough to me.
I accept the e-mail she sent was way OTT, but I think that is out of the classroom context. It was born out of sheer ignorance. That said it appears she is now way more clued up on open source as a result so in that sense it's a mutal win.
What I really liked about part 2 is that it should have shifted the focus away from that instance which is largely irrelevant and back onto the merits of Linux Vs Windows for the larger user community. That is where the debate should be imo.
Comments
those damn penguins! Giving away software! How's bill gates supposed to support his crippling matchbox car addiction if people don't have to pay for software!
The OP has followed up the article, with a partial retraction of his criticism.
Sounds to me like she was pretty ignorant about technology and reacted like most teachers would, in that she assumed that a group of laughing teenage boys were up to no good in some way.
Cheers Aggro! Part 2 should be compulsory reading, he does well in switching the debate back onto territory which is pretty constructive.
From the sounds of it the teacher in question acted perfectly reasonably in the context of a classroom.
I don't think she did act reasonably! Rather than start hurling stones, she should of used fucking Google. Regardless of what happened after, what she did was not just ignorant it was ignorant without any desire to set it right. Which is idiocy.
If a teacher teaches something that is wrong and a student says "Hang on there, that's not right...". I expect the teacher to check up on their facts. They aren't some sort of fucking oracle. They should understand the limits of their knowledge and seek to rectify it when something is outside of their knowledge. The good teacher admits when they don't know something - regardless of how old the boys are - and then set about filling the hole. The initial action of confiscation was fine but it should have been followed with research. Had that step been taken, her letter would be pointless and so would the horrid reaction to it.
Stupidity is the facet of not wanting to cure ignorance. Unfortunate in daily life, inexcusable in teachers.
I think you are over-estimating the ability (and indeed the desire to teach) of most teachers. Everyone I know who went into teaching did so as it was the soft option after university, rather than get a proper job...
Perhaps I was not clear enough there, it was "within the context of the classroom" which as far as I can tell is broken down as:
a) Kid being disruptive.
b) Kid using linux disks to be disruptive.
c) Teacher confiscates disks.
d) Teacher gives disks back.
Seems fair enough to me.
I accept the e-mail she sent was way OTT, but I think that is out of the classroom context. It was born out of sheer ignorance. That said it appears she is now way more clued up on open source as a result so in that sense it's a mutal win.
What I really liked about part 2 is that it should have shifted the focus away from that instance which is largely irrelevant and back onto the merits of Linux Vs Windows for the larger user community. That is where the debate should be imo.