I think we agree that her reaction was over the top. Her ignorance was showing to an extreme. Now that we've agreed, let's break it down in order for you to see what a teacher sees. Teachers are required to report unusual classroom activities or conditions. If a kid walks in with a bruise on his/her face, the teacher is required to report it. If the kids are passing suggestive notes, the teacher is required to report it -though most do not. *Everything* in the classroom is the teachers responsibility and she is held accountable.
In this case, the kids were gathering around another kid who was passing out "mysterious Linux" (hey, that would be a cool distro name) CDs. She may have believed they were viral CDs or pirated software CDs initially, so she stops the activity *as it is her job to do. *She is not required to learn the tenets of F-L/OSS or read the Cathedral and the Bazaar. She's required to teach and in order to do that well, she needs to minimize the distruption. The disruption *was *handing out Linux disks. You only have one-shot to keep students attention per day; six if you teach in a secondary school. On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 4:36 PM, Chris Penn <[email protected]> wrote: > Handing out Linux disks is not a disturbance. The teacher should have > figured that out before taking everyones' disk. Far more then 1% of > the people in our education system are stupid. The fact that > educators have a fear that their kids will know better when it comes > to computers and humiliate them at every turn is a ridiculous fear. I > am not suggesting that this fear does not exist, just that the fear is > mostly without merit since humiliation from a high school student > should really be your last concern. > > What Karen NEEDED to do was to learn that when we say free we mean > freedom, not free stuff. I believe there is far more then 1% of the > teachers that have her handicap when it comes to reasoning. > Furthermore, if avoiding humiliation was such a high priority for > Karen, you would think that she would have learned something about the > disks before she confiscated them so as to not look like an idiot for > taking something that helps everyone. Once the disks were taken from > the students her humiliation was solidified and she can only blame > herself. > > Chris... > > > > On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Dante Lanznaster <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I think it's appropriate for the teacher to curb activities that will > cause > > disturbances, but this teacher went overboard in terms of ignorance. > First, > > she can't confiscate items from students beyond the class period, only > > during the class, and second, she clearly has been scared somehow > regarding > > F/OSS. No matter how separate the "classroom domain" is, this kind of > > behavior from a teacher is really disturbing. > > > > On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 3:54 PM, Joel Witherspoon > > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> You haven't worked in education. :D > >> > >> I currently work for a school district. There is an adage that teachers > >> teach, they don't learn. To be fair, only a small (<1%) are this > idiotic. > >> Most understand that they will need to use computers, but they have a > fear > >> of them. Not the same Futureshock fear that the computer will take their > >> job, but a fear that their kids will know better how to work the > computer > >> and humiliate them at every turn. It's a legitimate fear. The first rule > in > >> classroom management is "Do not be humiliated!" As a result, many don't > use > >> the computer for instruction, and instead use it to surf the web, buy > >> tickets, shop Amazon, etc. (I see the logs). > >> > >> Second, teachers are pirates the likes of which you have never seen. > They > >> will pass around software illegally whenever they can and feign > ignorance. > >> Most are ignorant of EULAs to the extreme. I think "Karen" probably got > >> reprimanded a time or two for these types of violations. Either that or > >> someone scared the crap out of her about illegal software. > >> > >> Third, there is one thing that everyone must know about schools and > >> teachers. The classroom appears to be a separate soverign state that > belongs > >> to that teacher. Not the school, nor the district. He/she is responsible > for > >> EVERYTHING that goes on in that classroom. If a kid touches another kid > in > >> that classroom, the teacher is liable. This isn't to excuse her > ignorance, > >> but if she was in the classroom and a kid is passing around CDs at his > >> laptop causing a disturbance (no matter how small), that is a cause for > >> concern. Her first instinct is to protect the students - and herself - > and > >> unfortunately she went on the attack rather than assessment. Just a > >> different perspective to consider in regards to her behavior. Also, I > think > >> the author will make little headway in the meeting with the > Superintendent > >> and the teacher. The extent of her discipline will be that meeting. > >> > >> > >> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 1:59 PM, Dante Lanznaster <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > >>> > >>> > >>> > http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html > >>> > >>> Unbelievable that people can be so stupid. > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> LinuxUsers mailing list > >>> [email protected] > >>> http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers > >>> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> LinuxUsers mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > LinuxUsers mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers > > > > > > > > -- > "As we open our newspapers or watch our television screens, we seem to > be continually assaulted by the fruits of Mankind's stupidity." > -Roger Penrose > _______________________________________________ > LinuxUsers mailing list > [email protected] > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers >
