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Issue #6 - May 1999MacFlagstone Creek State SchoolDave Wardell Nestled in the foothills below the range from Toowoomba and surrounded by lucerne fields lies Flagstone Creek State School. For more than 100 years this school has served as the hub for the community and it is far from being a an old fashioned little school. With 82 students, principal David Prestridge and three full time teachers this school boast one computer per six students and one of the first in the Toowoomba area to be fully integrated with the internet. Since the beginning of computers in school, Flagstone has been an Apple/Mac school and now are the proud owners of several iMacs. When asked why he chose to stay with Macs, principal David replied, "They work logically, are very reliable, are able to do everything we want and are easily networked. We only use one IBM in the admin area and it was provided by the education department as a system requirement." No pressure has been placed on the school to change over to windows machines and there has never been a shortage of software for the Macs. The computers are used by students in all learning areas, for word processing, letters, email, photos, scanned images, sound files, typing practice and drills. Research is carried out on CD-ROM encyclopaedias by the older classes while years one and two are taught numbers and sounds via their Macs. When asked about the reliability of the new iMacs, David said he had no problems whatsoever. He thought a 3.5 floppy disk drive would have been useful until the network was set up but now there was no real need. He particularly liked the ease of setting up the iMacs for the ethernet, taking less than five minutes. I would like to thank David for taking time out of his busy days to provide the information for this article and wish him and the school all the best in the future. On a related matter - the University of Southern Queensland just took delivery of 16 iMacs. Hopefully this is only the start of a very large order. Yeah, well my school's got one whole G3 in the accounting department. Oh dear, we have problems as St. Michaels. :) JokesBill Clinton, Jean Cretien, and Bill Gates were at a meeting discussing the fate the digital revolution in North America. In the mean time Saddam Hussien decided he'd had about enough from those three and bombed them. The trio gets to the pearly gates and is told by St. Peter that when they met the big man they'd have to answer one question and their answer would decide their fate. The three of them go in and God says to Bill Clinton, "What do you believe?" Bill thinks about this and replys, "I believe that all people have the right to a good health care system and the right to be looked after when they are in need of medical attention." Bill Gates snickers in the back. God, ignoring Gates, finds this acceptable, gives Bill his wings and sends him on his way. He turns to Monsieur Cretien and asks, "What do you believe?" He thinks about this and says, "I believe that all people have the right to distinct society and the right to speak whatever language they wish." Gates giggles quite audibly this time. God, in his infinite patience, ignores Gates again, and, finding the PM's answer acceptable gives him the angel treatment. God finally turns to William H Gates III and asks, "Alright, Mr. Gates. What do you believe?" Gates says, "I believe," looking up, "that you are in my chair." |
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