Re: [Fwd: [Fsfe-uk] Hello]

[Richard Smedley]

Alex Hudson wrote:

> Many areas of education, outside of the school->a level college->university
> line, tend to be affected very much by local business. They offer courses in
> the skills that local businesses require, and that are popular nationally.
> Looked at this way, ICT is essentially a vocational area, not an academic
> one. And that's part of the trouble: currently, "Free Software" skills are
> just not in demand. So, the easiest areas of attack are the less vocational
> ones (C programming, for example), or "hobbyist" / extra-curricular areas.


Is it really hopeless to argue that schools should
be there to teach (to educate) - not to train.

If you educate a pupil she will be able to spend
her whole life learning and picking up training
with little difficulty.

If however you merely train pupils you end up with
the trained monkeys who might manage an MSCE, but will
struggle to understand how computers and networks
actually work.

This is both a poor investment in the future of this
country and a destruction of the potential of young
people. I'll stop here before I start ranting about
the national curriculum or the many other things
governemnt have done to destroy education :-(

- Richard



-- 

Richard Smedley
Production Editor, Linux Format

Telephone +44 (0) 1225 442244 ext 5038