On Nov 22, 2007 1:04 PM, Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > / Chime Mode <ON> > I have, in fact, sent this thread to my friend. > His limiting factors are > > - money-control people favor MS platforms > - C# and VS have minimal cost impact for academia > - sys admins have everything locked down (probably > essential for high school and community college) > - both Python 2.4.2, then 2.5.1, on XP and Win2k > crashed approx 10% of lab cptrs, so lab techs refused > to allow further install of any 'third-party' s/w. > (side note - I have installed Python and all the > supporting stuff for PyVISA on 14 work-site (11 XP, 3 > Debian) cptrs with no problem, so I do not understand). > - no such thing as TAs in JC or HS. > - CS instructors, for the effected schools, are not > allowed to config machines or admin the network. > - money-control people want students to learn skills > that are on the IT buzz-word list. > - my friend is no longer allowed to use me as an > 'unofficial' assistant in these classes (not considered > qualified because I only have a B.S. degree), so he > only uses stuff that existing staff are (supposedly) > familiar with... > / Chime Mode <OFF> > > I told my friend, the wannabe Python instructor, to > walk away from any more volunteer work, and stick to > the paid stuff. American education, what a mess... > > luck, > Brian > > -- > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list >
Wow... Sounds like in this instance (and probably most such cases), none of the problems are really python related. Just a stupid institution thing. Everyone uses MS because it's what they are used to, and MS pays a lot to keep it this way. The only somewhat valid strike against python is the crashing, which is a real WTF. My guess is that python was not the cause of the crashes, and the admins assumed so since they were prejudiced against it. I had python crash at school pretty much immediately after installing it, but guess what - other people in the same lab have their vista computers crash frequently without installing python. Uh, maybe microsoft and their crappy vista OS is to blame... Oh, and I told the admins about the crashes and they said they have never seen them crash. ... Ok. How come every time I come into lab and turn the computer on it gives me the "your computer had a problem, do you want me to send data to microsoft about it?". Lol. I still think that python does inherently have some issues with regard to teaching it in a classroom setting, but it's mostly minor quibbles. Obviously in America, the main problem is we just can't possibly hope to displace the juggernaut. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list