Andrew Hill wrote an article
recently about software not being updated as frequently as it
should be in schools because the cost of supplying people to do
this is too high - and then the Macs are not used because they have
out of date software.
This might be true. However, it seems that the real obstacle to
the Mac getting used and working correctly is the student. The
other day I heard a student suggesting that "most kids are used to
Windows, so can't we get Windows computers for the iMac lab?" Hm,
PCs in a Mac lab.
When going past the Mac lab you often hear comments such as
"these computers always crash," or "I can never get to the network
on these Macs." This leads an uneducated (computer wise) kid to
believe that Macs don't do what you want them to. Of course, then
they find themselves saying, "these Macs never work," even when
they have never actually tried it for themselves.
This gets spread around the school, and eventually the iMac lab
becomes empty, with people preferring the PCs in the library that
tend to work properly. The fact that they don't always print to the
right printer doesn't seem to matter.
I believe that students should be given the benefit of having
both computing platforms in use in their schools, because they may
have to deal with both later on in their lives. However, many
students just don't understand how to use the Mac. They don't
understand that the Chooser is used to log onto the network and
that they should not check the little "connect at startup"
checkbox next to their folder. They also don't seem to be able to
grasp the concept that logging off the network is as simple as
dragging their network folder to the Trash, and quitting an
application is done using the File menu or command-Q, not
clicking the close box.
The Mac has many benefits over the PC in an education
environment. They run Microsoft Office, which is the most commonly
used business application. They also run Photoshop, Quark XPress,
PageMaker, Illustrator, and countless other graphics applications
easily and quickly. The Mac is also very easy to set up, and set up
time is important when setting up a computer lab. Installing
software from an external hard drive onto a Mac is easy. For most
labs, all computers are supposed to have the same software and have
desktops that look the same. Creating a disk image and installing
that onto all of the Macs with an external USB or FireWire hard
drive is simple. PCs take longer to set up because each version of
Windows requires a software key - different for each machine.
Even if I believe that Macs are well suited to schools, they
also have a lot going against them. Student's comments count for a
lot. If the kids can't use or don't like using the computers,
teachers will report this to the technology coordinators, and the
message will eventually get to the Board of Education. The BoE will
notice that Macs cost more initially. Even if they do cost less in
tech support, setup costs, and last longer, the BoE will figure
that if the kids don't like them, they will purchase the less
expensive PCs, saving themselves money - or so they think.
Not that PCs are bad - I use one often - but in an educational
situation they can be a nightmare to support, which means that they
actually cost more. When they work, they work fine, but when they
break down, well, then you've got a problem. Windows takes ages to
reinstall, and if the school has a special disk image that they
need to install, they may have to do extra work to install it.
The other thing you get with PCs are people who tamper with
them. They don't do this on the iMac, as there is only one button
on the front to play with, but on most PC monitors, it is easy to
change settings from the front of the monitor - and people tend to
do that. Sometimes they will increase the size of the picture so
that you cannot see anything on the screen or decrease the
brightness so nothing shows on the screen. Apparently they think it
is funny. Well, I've got news for them: Purposely making a computer
unusable for the next person is not funny at all.
This can be a tech support nightmare, as the next person,
probably clueless about computers, will go get a tech, and he will
spend 15 minutes trying to figure out why there is no picture on
the screen when the brightness and contrast are really both turned
down all the way.
It is a waste of other people's time, and time is money. The
time techs spend on ridiculous things like this costs schools
money. There are two things at fault here. First of all, I do
believe that for a school, the Mac is better suited because it is
harder to tamper with. Second, some students are simply so computer
illiterate that they don't have any idea what to do when they come
across a computer that has been "played with."
Students should be taught to be comfortable with the computer,
and the lessons should be taught seriously. I see kids sit there,
looking afraid to touch the mouse while a website is loading.
I see other kids typing, one key at a time. What was all that
sixth grade Mavis Beacon stuff for? I guess it was "play Sim City
behind the teachers back" day, as no one seemed to learn anything
from it.
Computer skills are essential. They are not recommended; they
are not suggested; they should be mandatory, and students should be
proficient in both Windows and the Mac OS.
