> To the extent that the CS departments have allowed, and continue to allow, > themselves to be company towns for the major industry players, they > deserve what they get. And if what they get is a lack of interest, maybe > that is saying something optimistic about who our kids are today. > > Art
Vilification of Microsoft is one way to go, certainly. Not an especially original approach. As I sometimes think of you as an investor, I'm somewhat surprised that your alternative to "bad companies" is "no companies" i.e. "because some companies exert a negative influence in the classroom, classrooms should be company-free zones." There's a leap in logic there, which a capitalist should not miss: why not just go with other companies? Why not make schools freer to choose collaborator firms, by ending any kind of top-down "district wide" or "state wide" sweetheart wheeling and dealing? That'd be a reform in the government sector, which a governor might get behind and even get re-elected on (people get suspicious of large bureaucracies with good reason). Like, a board made up of Franklin High's teachers, parents, and principal, might make a deal with Naked Ape, part of the POSSE here in Portland [1], to supplement Franklin High's Scheme training (already well-known and prized) with some Perl training (one of Naked Ape's specialties). Maybe a certified union teacher supervises the guest trainer, or maybe a trainer is on part time payroll in a charter school, with more lenient certification requirements, and is supervised by the principal. Or maybe the training is just for faculty (teacher in-service), and they pass their new knowledge on to their students (a well-known design pattern). As a small business with an interest in education, I have no problem walking into a local school and putting my spin on things, as any parent would. I'll openly talk up relevant community-based NGOs (e.g. Free Geek's Build Program), but I'll also share history. We're proud of our Oregon pioneers: Tek, HP, ESI... ISEPP/Wanderers wouldn't exist in its present shape without Mentor Graphics. Saturday Academy: another Silicon Forest creature and valued institution within our ecosystem. In my typical classroom gig, I'll talk about my adventures with Design Science Toys and StrangeAttractors (I used Python to develop the packaging). I talk up this or that Linux distro as being more user friendly and/or intelligently designed (some distros come from for-profit companies, with stock and everything). Maybe I'll mention my contract with Lawson and Associates, to do renderings of Flextegrity (another Python project, shared about here). And yes, I expect to talk about Microsoft technology, in the form of IronPython, plus share my high opinion of where .NET and Mono are going. I'm considering diving into IronPython with this group of 8th graders, maybe in 2006, even as I talk up Linux as a kick ass developers' platform. IronPython also runs on Linux. Kirby PS: Notice all this autobio. Makes more sense because yes, we really do have a Franklin High that teaches Scheme, a Naked Ape, Flextegrity. [1] http://www.possepdx.com/ _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
