Good software is bad for kids
Now, this guy works for schools, so its not like Bill Gates coming out and saying “Hey, Apple Bad, Buy MS” or anything. But what he IS falling prey to is that we MUST keep lowering the bar on everything. Software has to all be the same or else how can we deal? Shockingly, kids deal with this just fine. If they want to. Further, the more they DO want to, the more they DEMAND better software, the more other companies will have to respond.
What I dislike even more about this is the subtext that we should sacrifice kids creativity to make sure they know how to handle crappy software that inhibits their creativity for the sake of…what…learning to install drivers and how you have to reboot every time after you print?
Oh self-fulfilling prophecy…thy irony is sweet…
$800 Mac Mini? I’m all set, Apple | Education IT | ZDNet.com
However, even iLife has its drawbacks in an educational setting. It simply hands so much to the students that they struggle with software (whether Windows, Linux, or even pro-level software on the Mac) that isn’t so brilliantly plug and play. Yes, iLife rocks in many ways, but the level of spoonfeeding it encourages actually makes me think twice about using it widely, especially at the high school level.
(h/t to Fireball)
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