- 2003.07.10
My own adventures in attempting to defend the Mac from being
eliminated from my district have been documented here before. Our
current status is that they seem to be waiting for everyone who defends
the Mac to go on vacation simultaneously. I also note that districts in
Madison, Wisconsin are being
forced to eliminated Macs by an IT director who brags about
eliminating Macs from other districts before "cleansing" (my term)
Madison schools.
It's time for us to stand up for professional teachers making
professional decisions. If we have no choice in how we design our
lessons, soon we will all be teaching from scripted workbooks that read
like standardized test instructions and sound just as exciting. "Make
your marks heavy and dark, and don't forget your three-letter extension
on the end of your filename," we'll all say. "Please deposit your
Microsoft tax with your Passport card before logging on," will be the
mantra of the year 2010.
We've decided we've had enough of this silliness, so we present for
your free use some slogans that we hope you'll print out and mail to
your elected school board representatives. Stick them on cubicle doors.
Tape one to every dead PC you can find in a closet in your district.
Link to them on your Web page. Use them as your email tagline.
Who do you want to decide how your child gets taught, your district
accountant or your child's teacher? Support Macs in schools.
Are You Learning With Your Computer or Learning About
Your Computer?
Keep up the good fight. The future of computing is at stake.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
