I still find this philosophy puzzling. Given that schools ICT involves providing systems for people who, in the main, are several years away from full-time employment, why do some schools feel it necessary to restrict themselves to the systems in use by businesses today?

I am following this thread with interest as someone who uses Linux myself at home and at school, but has stuck *largely* to Microsoft products for most teaching purposes. What follows is a Linux v. Microsoft argument of the sort I'm sure most of you have seen repeatedly. I don't feel restricted: I use lots of products. But if we succeed in educating students to use computers, that implies doing coursework in a whole range of disciplines in school. Key skills and all that? We have two philosophies: those who want to integrate IT into school life, where ease of use is paramount; and those who want to prepare for an uncertain future where it's important to look at alternatives. Given this is a linux-based thread, the latter predominates this group. The problem is simple: most schools don't have time to do both; some don't have enough time or money to do one as well as they'd wish. The decision to base most instruction on particular products is a pragmatic one for many schools. Students wish to work at home, at school, and transfer files about. I work in a boarding school where significant numbers of pupils bring machines into school. We looked at Acorns, Macs, PCs as possible platforms, and came down on the PC side precisely because parents can provide Windows/Office at home. This was of course well before Linux became a viable alternative... However I have some students with Macs and Linux machines, and that's no problem. They know what's going on and are capable of transforming disks and files from format to format. However the lumpenproletariat prefer to stay firmly on the shore (rocky or otherwise). The arguments over Office compatibility are spurious. Yes, Star office can read MS office files. However that doesn't extend to making sense of embedded objects like charts and graphs, making the exchange between the two much less suitable for serious use. [no doubt someone will tell me I'm wrong in this and I just don't know how to do it properly. Please do!] Now for the 'years away from employment' argument. No: some students will leave school and go straight into using IT seriously. We don't have time to teach to professional standards (how acceptable are ECDL and CLAIT or a GCSE?) but what experience such students pick up at school can make a significant difference. Most Universities expect pupils to arrive with sufficient skills to use machines from the moment they arrive. Yes, many more universities use Unix, but we are still referring to basic abilities rather than technical skills. There is just as much reason to teach someone word-processing using MS Word as any other package. Reasons for teaching generic word-processing should not be seen as bashing any one particular product. If you argue that we should not use industry-standard products you are on shaky ground: I have used Word in particular since version 1 and it's recognisably the same product. It's unlikely to change significantly in its next iterations (as far as most users are concerned). I realise exactly the same argument appies to *any* of the popular word-processors. I believe experience my students pick up at the age of 14-16-18 *will* impinge on the early parts of their careers in business or at University. If you deny that, you are saying we might as well use Wordwise on a BBC. </troll> The argument surely isn't about 'industry standard' it's about the functionality and compatibility of product A against product B? There, I feel better now. Feel free to pile in! -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of inappropriate attachments and certain obscenities. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster@wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. ********************************************************************************