[Linux-aus] New Federal Govt's Education/PC plans

[David Lloyd]

Sridhar,

Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, Paul Coldrey <paul at ensigma.com.au> wrote:
>> True. I was thinking from the point of view of a new starter which I
>> guess are only a small part of the puzzle. My 4 year old son is a lot
>> more comfortable using Linux than Windows,... it is all he has ever
>> seen. I shudder to think of the cost of reskilling him when he starts
>> school :-).
> 
> Children can adapt better than most adults, so there isn't much need for 
> concern.
> 
> One defence raised by proponents of the status quo is, "children should learn 
> what they'll be using in the workforce". This argument fails for several 
> reasons. To name but a few:
> 
> * When I was a child, I was using DOS. How do we know what a five-year-old 
> today will be using in fifteen years' time?
> 
> * The best workers are flexible workers. Children should learn computing, not 
> Windows; word processing, not Word. They should be able to adapt to use 
> whatever tools are available. This argument can also be extended to promote 
> the importance of open standards and vendor neutrality.
> 
> * How is a child meant to learn anything at all if the hardware and software 
> is too expensive to be purchased? You probably couldn't justify buying your 
> child a copy of Photoshop just so they could muck around, but you would be 
> more comfortable giving them a free copy of the GIMP.

All valid points - but who tells the child what operating system to 
install at home? Us or their parents?

DSL