It goes deeper than this; currently there is no place in the national curriculum to teach kids to touch type. So even though they will most likely spend a large part of their time on a keyboard no one thinks it appropriate to teach them an effective way to do that.
Rupert Watson +44 7787554801 www.root6.com -----Original Message----- From: owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk [mailto:owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk] On Behalf Of backst...@gorge.org Sent: 09 February 2009 17:47 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: Re: [backstage] Make the primary operating system used in stateschools free and open source On Mon, Feb 09, 2009 at 04:12:09PM -0000, Christopher Woods wrote: > Aside from the fact that the suite of *de facto* software the students would > use day in and day would need to be the same, in some cases the bloody > curriculum demanded that particular software be used, so your hands were > tied. At my school we had Acorns for general use (DTP etc), an ST for music composition, and a Beeb for handling the input from our radiotelescopes. I was happy with each of them (and did not have a computer at home to compare or learn on). There was no problem in using different computers for different purposes, each was "the right tool for the job". So what's wrong with providing certain software where the curriculum prescribes it, perhaps on computers in the room or lab where that subject is taught, but the main suites could be running entirely open source solutions? And then if schools start to turn to open source, maybe the software prescribed by the curriculum will change as well. Schools should be preparing kids to go into the world. And open source is out there on desktops now. We should be looking forward to that, not back because "that's how it's always been". -- Flash Bristow - Web Design & Mastery - 07939 579090 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Work: www.wdam.co.uk Personal: www.gorge.org - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ ROOT 6 LIMITED Registered in the UK at 4 WARDOUR MEWS, LONDON W1F 8AJ Company No. 03433253 - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
