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+<!-- 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.
+ -->
+
+
+ <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 href="#FOOT27" name="DOCF27">
+ (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 href="#DOCF27" name="FOOT27">
+ (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>
+ </hr>
+ </div>
+ <hr size="2"/>
+