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diff --git a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_7.html b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_7.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..45a495e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_7.html @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. + +Free Software Foundation + +51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor + +Boston, MA 02110-1335 +Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted +worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is +preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations +of this book from the original English into another language provided +the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and +the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all +copies. + +ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 +Cover design by Rob Myers. + +Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. + --> +<!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 +texi2html was written by: + Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) + Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> + Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> + and many others. +Maintained by: Many creative people. +Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> +--> +<head> +<title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 7. Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software</title> + +<meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."> +<meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 7. Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software"> +<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> +<meta name="distribution" content="global"> +<meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} +blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} +pre.display {font-family: serif} +pre.format {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} +pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} +pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} +span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} +span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} +ul.toc {list-style: none} +--> +</style> +<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"> + + +</head> + +<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> + +<a name="Schools"></a> +<header><div id="logo"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Why-Schools-Should-Exclusively-Use-Free-Software"></a> +<h1 class="chapter"> 7. Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software </h1> + +<a name="index-education_002c-free-software-in-1"></a> +<a name="index-schools_002c-free-software-in-1"></a> +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-use-only-free-software-in-schools"></a> +<a name="index-users_002c-benefit-to-2"></a> +<p>There are general reasons why all computer users should insist on +free software: it gives users the freedom to control their own +computers—with proprietary software, the computer does what the +software +<a name="index-ownership_002c-and-users_0027-freedom-1"></a> +owner wants it to do, not what the user wants it to +do. Free software also gives users the freedom to cooperate with each +other, to lead an upright life. These reasons apply to schools as +they do to everyone. +</p> +<p>The purpose of this article is to state additional reasons that +apply specifically to education. +</p> +<p>First, free software can save schools money. Free software gives +schools, like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the +software, so the school system can make copies for all the computers +they have. In poor countries, this can help close the digital +divide. +</p> +<a name="index-traps_002c-donated-proprietary-software"></a> +<p>This obvious reason, while important in practical terms, is rather +shallow. And proprietary software developers can eliminate this reason +by donating copies to the schools. (Warning: a school that accepts +such an offer may have to pay for upgrades later.) So let’s look at +the deeper reasons. +</p> +<a name="index-citizen-values_002c-schools_0027-social-mission"></a> +<p>Schools have a social mission: to teach students to be citizens of +a strong, capable, independent, cooperating and free society. They +should promote the use of free software just as they promote +recycling. If schools teach students free software, then the students +will tend to use free software after they graduate. This will help +society as a whole escape from being dominated (and gouged) by +megacorporations. +</p> +<p>What schools should refuse to do is teach dependence. Those +corporations offer free samples to schools for the same reason tobacco +companies distribute free cigarettes to minors: to get children +addicted.<a name="DOCF27" href="#FOOT27">(27)</a> +They will not give discounts to these students once they’ve grown up +and graduated. +</p> + +<p>Free software permits students to learn how software works. Some +students, on reaching their teens, want to learn everything there is +to know about their computer and its software. They are intensely +curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every +day. To learn to write good code, students need to read lots of code +and write lots of code. They need to read and understand real +programs that people really use. Only free software permits this. +</p> +<p>Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, +“The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is +forbidden!” Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free +software community rejects the “priesthood of technology,” +which keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; +we encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code +and learn as much as they want to know. Schools that use free software +will enable gifted programming students to advance. +</p> +<p>The deepest reason for using free software in schools is for moral +education. We expect schools to teach students basic facts and useful +skills, but that is not their whole job. The most fundamental job of +schools is to teach good citizenship, which includes the habit of +helping others. In the area of computing, this means teaching people +to share software. Schools, starting from nursery school, should tell +their pupils, “If you bring software to school, you must share +it with the other students. And you must show the source code to the +class, in case someone wants to learn.” +</p> +<p>Of course, the school must practice what it preaches: all the +software installed by the school should be available for students to +copy, take home, and redistribute further. +</p> +<p>Teaching the students to use free software, and to participate in +the free software community, is a hands-on civics lesson. It also +teaches students the role model of public service rather than that of +tycoons. All levels of school should use free software. +<a name="index-schools_002c-free-software-in-2"></a> +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-use-only-free-software-in-schools-1"></a> +<a name="index-users_002c-benefit-to-3"></a> +</p> +<div class="footnote"> +<hr> +<h3>Footnotes</h3> +<h3><a name="FOOT27" href="#DOCF27">(27)</a></h3> +<a name="index-RJ-Reynolds-Tobacco-Company"></a> +<p>RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was fined $15m in 2002 for handing out +free samples of cigarettes at events attended by children. See +<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/tobaccotrial/usa.htm">http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/tobaccotrial/usa.htm</a>. +</p></div> +<hr size="2"> +<table cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" border="0"> +<tr><td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_6.html#Should-Be-Free" title="Previous section in reading order"> < </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_8.html#University" title="Next section in reading order"> > </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left"> </td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[Contents]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_U.4.html#Index" title="Index">Index</a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_abt.html#SEC_About" title="About (help)"> ? </a>]</td> +</tr></table> +<p> + <font size="-1"> + This document was generated by <em>Christian Grothoff</em> on <em>February 18, 2016</em> using <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/"><em>texi2html 1.82</em></a>. + </font> + <br> + +</p> +</body> +</html> |