Use old version of Windows instead of Linux, says teacher
By Davey Winder in Editorial
File under: what the bloody hell is that all about then? It would seem that the silly season is upon us already as we hear of a Texas teacher with her knickers in a twist over Linux in the classroom.
The founder of the HeliOS Project, Ken Starks, was on the receiving end of an irate email from the teacher after she discovered one of her students giving a demonstration of the Linux distro on his laptop. She says “After confiscating the disks I called a conference with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization” and continues “I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom.”
Why ever not, is the school sponsored by Microsoft do you think?
Possibly, but the teacher is concerned as she is “not sure what you are doing is legal.” What? A quick double-take reveals she did just say that, yes. In fact, she goes on to insist that “No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline.”
Let’s hope they do not look up to her for guidance about the legality, or otherwise, of open source software then.
It gets better once you get past the legal misconception, as the teacher really does seem to have a bee in her bonnet and her knickers in a twist, or maybe even a bee in her twisted knickers, about Linux. “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.”
So there you go, Linux is pants, why not just admit it. Indeed, why not do what the teacher suggests: “I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older version of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them…”
ROFL.
Perhaps she read the story about Linux being worth USD $10 billion and took it all a little too literally? Perhaps she used to work at the BBC when they lost 97200 Linux users? Perhaps she should focus on other classroom problems such as Facebook usage at school instead of getting so excited about nothing? Or maybe she should read IT Pro and learn a little more about Linux…
Rated: 86.67% (3 votes)
Loading ...Comment by Ben Franklin - December 11, 2008 on 3:18 pm
So what’s worse than a teacher who is uninformed about Linux? How about an entire tech community that treats it like the crime of the century? Public humiliation and scorn are such great tools for winning friends and influencing people. Grow up already, people.
Comment by Davey Winder - December 11, 2008 on 11:17 pm
I would have thought an educated person such as a teacher just might have investigated the matter before going off on one about the great evil that is Linux.
I feel sure she would expect no less from her students when they complete their assignments.
Comment by Sanders - December 11, 2008 on 11:27 pm
Found explanation; She’s Steve Ballmer’s relative.
Comment by Ken Holmes - December 12, 2008 on 3:54 am
Had the teacher confiscated my son’s Linux disks and had her “conference” with him she would indeed discussing legalities.
Comment by armand - December 12, 2008 on 4:44 am
she’s a woman.
Comment by Ric Storms - December 12, 2008 on 6:52 am
It’s really illuminating to read the email this teacher sent. What is so galling about this is not the fact that the teacher is misinformed, it is fairly common for most non-tech-savvy people to have misconceptions about FOSS and Linux in particular, but her utter lack of research into this issue. You’d think a teacher, who has to deal with parental headaches on a daily basis, would have done a little research before sending out such a vitriolic email. And on top of that, she is teaching bad security habits, she wants her students to think that an older unpatched version of Windows (NT, ME, 98, 95) is preferable to use than a modern Linux distro? yikes…
Comment by JacoG - December 12, 2008 on 9:25 am
armand: “she
Comment by Matt-j - December 12, 2008 on 10:04 am
The most frightening part for me is when she said:
“No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful”
That is so shockingly ignorant I don’t know where to start.
Comment by Davey Winder - December 12, 2008 on 10:13 am
No, it was the bit that immediately followed that comment:
“These children look up to adults for guidance”
Yep, they sure do. What a shame they are getting it from this particular person on this particular matter.
Comment by sirrush - December 12, 2008 on 4:19 pm
Wow and these are the people that are supposed to teach our kids …
Comment by sirrush - December 12, 2008 on 4:21 pm
Wow and this person is supposed to be educating our children … I hope that kids parents complain, if this was my kid she’d have bigger problems than just being ignorant.
Comment by suezz - December 12, 2008 on 5:19 pm
Wow
Wow
Wow
I have to get my jaw off the ground.
Are there really people out there that think that way and are teaching our children?
wow
Comment by GnaRDAWG! - December 12, 2008 on 9:14 pm
hahaha you have to just laugh at the end of the day. I wonder who hired her!?
Comment by - January 29, 2009 on 4:01 pm
Windows is single, Linuxes are thousands.
Windows is united, Linuxes are divided,
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Comment by - June 21, 2009 on 2:34 pm
Oh dear. I hope she should’ve realized by now her utter ignorance.
Comment by Jeremy Hill - July 15, 2009 on 3:59 pm
I’ve worked in a school and I understand the problem. Can someone please send her a Linux site license so she can sleep at night.
Comment by dsgdsgdsg - October 14, 2009 on 4:53 pm
Horrible misconception.
What is not tolerable is that she has not researched the matter before sending the email.
She has internet and has a role model task (she says so).
Researching this is something a good teacher would do.
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Comment by - October 18, 2009 on 1:57 am
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Comment by - October 29, 2009 on 5:31 am
In Europe lifelong learning takes now has a different approach, we hope to see more development as a result of new legislation, good luck all teachers!
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