“Mom and dad have spoken, and what they say is this: Why should my child work on a Mac in class when most people use PCs at home and in the office? I’ve heard this lament time and again in my son’s schools over the years. To listen to these parents, you’d think the schools were forcing children to use a history book that says the world is flat,” writes Charles Haddad for BusinessWeek.
Haddad looks at the reasons why Apple has an unhill battle in education and comes away without much hope, “Alas, despite Apple’s best efforts, enthusiasts such as [Pro-Mac teachers] probably can only slow the erosion, with Apple assuming the niche role it has in so many other markets. But they can’t turn the tide. The lemmings, I’m afraid, have won the day in education.”
Full article here.
I must agree with BW. By using Apple products in our school we are denying our children valuable skills and habits for the job market, such as virus removal and loading security patches on a weekly basis.
This is one of those Major issues that plague the business/computer world.
Since the begining of DOS/MS-DOS, which most people had to learn in order to work with Microsoft products, big business corporations have adopted Windows machines and products to conduct business. Windows machines are cheat to build and the software is elementary at best. Apples’ Macintosh machines are pricier, extremely robust and have a higher ROI than Wintell machines. If a truely savy business were to look at their expenditures on Wintell maintenance cost they would fire nearly half their IT department. That being said, is it no wonder that IT departments continually bash Macintosh and Apple products and continue the myth that a Mac cannot be folded into a Windows environment? I hope you publish this comment.
Respectfully,
Mad Mr. Monkey
Isn’t it amazing that all of these virus’ can ONLY affect Windows machines?
I believe blaster worm (and others sure to follow) could change everything. There could be a great MS backlash.
However, some people will never understand the concept, “you get what you pay for”. Perceived upfront savings quickly erode with a cheap box and a shoddy OS.
Look at this major job skill! Wow! Loading security updates and virus protection on a weekly basis! Oh Joy! I’ll be able to get an IT position with a great company once I learn this skill! My resume is now complete! Yee haaaaaaaaa!
I agree with Mad Mr. Monkey
It is such a shame that parents don’t understand that the purpose fo school is to educate on a wide variety of topics, and computers are used in school as merely the tool for presenting the information. As such, the students need a computer that will not interfere with that process, In addition, the school district needs a system that has a low maintenance cost.
There is no need for a child to learn Windows. By the time they graduate college, the Windows OS will not be anything like it is today. OS platforms change, but the other 99.99% of what children need to learn is platform independent data and skills that need to be easily accessible.
I want my child to spend his classroom time learning about President Lincoln, not how to wrestle with Windows to eventually find the information.
Looks over at the latest LOVESAN worm news…
Sure…Whatever you morons say.
Thank god my parents had a brain!
” Hear what Art Rainwater, superintendent of the Madison (Wis) school district, told the local Capital Times. He conceded that Macs outperform PCs, but he didn’t care. “We want a single platform,” he said. “We’re trying to get there using the carrot, or blackmail, or rewards, or whatever you call it.” “
Here is my favorite quote. It says it all… I am a stupid bully. Who cares about students as long as the superintendent get their paycheck from Microsoft (directly or indirectly)? Judges excuse themselves from cases where they have personal stakes… I think IT people and superintendents should do the same.
Besides, if he cares only about a single platform, why not make it a single platform of computers that outperfoms (in his own word) the PCs.
well im still in high school and we just bought new G5s for the year book depart ment and emacs for the news paper and we have no mac tech people so someone remembered i was a mac guy and they pulled me out and insted of me learning school work i get to set up all the new mac its like heaven and now there thinking of giving me a period off with full credit to work on the macs so im loving this its a dream come true
Why use Macs in school when business use PC’s? See this excellent website for all the reasons schools should go Macintosh.
http://macvspc.info/
Mr. Haddad:
I would beg to differ with your article; what you don’t see is the fact that schools (especially out here in California) cannot afford the huge bill that using Microsoft products produce……and cannot support the staff that is needed to run the labs, fix the computers, etc. Conformity? With Microsoft products? Are you joking???
I personally made sure that my child’s school went from using M$ products to Apple; at the outlay, the cost per computer was not that different from a Dell or a Gateway, and proved to the school board (singlehandly, I might add) that the cost of maintenance, upkeep, and even replacement of parts would be less if they were to purchase Macs…..although I rarely see Macs needing replacement parts within the span of their usable life. And, speaking of that, apparently the business world here in America seems to have that special lemming mentality which states that the only technology that is good is the one that you have to replace every year or so. Never mind that Apples outlast the PC by a factor of 4…….And, why is it that Businessweek in general seems to always come out with the “Doom and Gloom” whenever they mention Apple???? Oh–geared to American businesses…….hmmm….seems to me that the aforementioned keeps the lemming mentality alive and kicking. Or so it would seem.
I find that in this day and age, a business can rise or fall depending on the spin that the media puts on it. It amazes me that Apple computer, even with stories like the one you wrote for Business Week, still keeps it’s head above water and does what others wish they could do.
Conservative thinking………wow. How limited.
the following message was sent directly to the writer of the article; BW calls him a “Apple Guru”…..I say that they are just placing that title to keep people from seeing the crap that they want to put out there.
–just my opinion.