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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"/>
-