The Open Source Debate for U.S. High Schools
Open source software (OSS) is software that is free of distribution restrictions. Some confuse OSS with free software, but not all OSS is free. However, there are more versions of free OSS than free proprietary software. (One popular example of OSS is the Firefox web browser by Mozilla.) For this reason, there exists a large contingency of those who believe that educational institutions, especially K-12 public schools, should begin acquiring OSS instead of continuing to invest resources in proprietary software. Proponents for OSS in schools argue that, since public schools already have considerable budget constraints, acquiring and maintaining proprietary software is an unnecessarily burdensome expense. Proponents argue that there exists cheaper or free OSS versions of essentially all the major software that schools use. Moreover because OSS can be modified, without violating intellectual property rights restrictions, schools can modify such software to fit their individual needs.
However, there is also a considerable contingency arguing against the complete overhaul of current proprietary software in schools in favor of switching to OSS. One argument from this side of the debate is that proprietary software is, in general, of higher quality than OSS. They argue that proprietary software has a higher price tag than OSS, because considerable research and development is invested into developing proprietary software. Moreover, proponents of keeping proprietary software in schools argue that one major function of K-12 schools is preparing students to excel in colleges and workplaces. Since most college computer labs and office work places use proprietary software, such as Microsoft Windows and its applications, students will be better equipped to excel in those environments if they have had experience with such software at school.
My opinion falls closer to that of the latter group when it comes to U.S. schools. Since proprietary software is, in general, more user-friendly and is unarguably more prevalent at colleges and businesses, I believe our students should be exposed to such software while in school. Any students that show interest in programming or having experience with more sophisticated software could probably seek out resources or referrals for working with OSS from their schools' computer teachers. However, the average student (who does not grow up to be a computer programmer, but rather, a college student or full-time worker) will find it invaluable to their future success to have experience with proprietary word and spreadsheet documents.
I realize that I have focussed my discussion on U.S. schools, in particular. This is because U.S. schools have far greater resources to invest in software than some other developing countries. The OSS debate is raging in, for example, Brazil and several African countries, where public school resources are much more scarce. In such countries, there is a strong push to convert not only public schools to OSS but also all governmental functions. Maybe I'll discuss this in a future blog...
However, there is also a considerable contingency arguing against the complete overhaul of current proprietary software in schools in favor of switching to OSS. One argument from this side of the debate is that proprietary software is, in general, of higher quality than OSS. They argue that proprietary software has a higher price tag than OSS, because considerable research and development is invested into developing proprietary software. Moreover, proponents of keeping proprietary software in schools argue that one major function of K-12 schools is preparing students to excel in colleges and workplaces. Since most college computer labs and office work places use proprietary software, such as Microsoft Windows and its applications, students will be better equipped to excel in those environments if they have had experience with such software at school.
My opinion falls closer to that of the latter group when it comes to U.S. schools. Since proprietary software is, in general, more user-friendly and is unarguably more prevalent at colleges and businesses, I believe our students should be exposed to such software while in school. Any students that show interest in programming or having experience with more sophisticated software could probably seek out resources or referrals for working with OSS from their schools' computer teachers. However, the average student (who does not grow up to be a computer programmer, but rather, a college student or full-time worker) will find it invaluable to their future success to have experience with proprietary word and spreadsheet documents.
I realize that I have focussed my discussion on U.S. schools, in particular. This is because U.S. schools have far greater resources to invest in software than some other developing countries. The OSS debate is raging in, for example, Brazil and several African countries, where public school resources are much more scarce. In such countries, there is a strong push to convert not only public schools to OSS but also all governmental functions. Maybe I'll discuss this in a future blog...
posted by Nese @ 15:39
1 Comments:
At Sunday, November 05, 2006,
Jeff Stanzler said…
Thanks for sharing this, Nese. This isn't a topic that I know a lot about, so I'm grateful for the learning opportunity.
Is this issue being discussed enough outside of "techie" circles that the microsofts and adobes are expending resources to make the case for the use of proprietary software on schools, or hasn't the issue yet reached the point where they need to worry about a potential threat?
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