Comments on: Linux – stop holding kids back… so wrong

By: Jyrhino

Jyrhino — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:31:10 +0000

As to the publishing thing, it wasn’t illegal, maybe in bad taste, but like phone-tapping, as long as one party agrees to it, publishing things like this is protected. If he had passed over name/number/address, then he would be liable for suit. You guys know better than most how many machines email passes through, and how many of those are someone else’s. It’s far more like passing notes across the classroom than sending sealed US mail.

As to it being real, this one event may not be real, but I have actually watched it happen and also have seen the ignorance enforced by the administration. You mention something that is out of a person’s normal range and rather than “hmm that’s interesting” you get “no. that’s wrong. you’re doing wrong.”

No, I’m not. I know the copyright laws better than any regular teacher, I’m an artist, I HAVE to know them. I know the tech better than the teachers stuck teaching one technology (PC or mainframe or Mac or..) And I have experience dealing with software and hardware that most people will never hear of … remember MFM drives? Ever dealt with a WANG? I loved most of my teachers (1-12/& college) but a lot of the ones I meet now have swallowed marketing lies (since there was no marketing on the whole, it wasn’t there to counter) and take them to be gospel. And they hold onto those lies as if they were a Bible.

Should the students be allowed to run/load live cd distributions on school property without permission? No. But people should actually stop and think before other people (students, employees or friends) get hurt by their reactions.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:08:16 +0000

Yeah, unfortunately, I don’t really have the energy to do investigative reporting and try to track down the vice principals of every single middle school in the Austin Independent School District that has a Karen in it, in order to verify the incident actually occurred or, if it did, in the way that Ken Starks presented it.

Supposedly that’s the job of tech journalists, but unfortunately what passes for tech journalism seems to be just regurgitating what Starks has presented and doing so as fact. I saw very few “according to…” and “allegedly” in the “tech news” sites that have been reporting this “story.”

Nevertheless, regardless of whether the story is true or not, you’re absolutely right—it lacks class and does not put the Linux communities in a good light. I can’t believe some people are actually making Starks sound like a hero in all this.

By: PartisanEntity

PartisanEntity — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:08:47 +0000

An interesting read Aysiu. I too had the feeling that the whole thing was fake. I can’t quite pinpoint it, just a gut feeling.

But if attention is what Stark wanted, he surely got it.

Whether it is a good thing to get attention through a mud slinging contest remains to be seen. I personally think the whole thing lacks class and any self respect.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:38:12 +0000

Thanks for reading, Dan. I’m a Christian and definitely see a lot of similarities. Some of the similarities, as you’ve pointed out, are unfortunate.

I’ve long since given up on the in-your-face antagonistic evangelism…

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:01:51 +0000

You’re allowed to vote my shares in your apology from another part of the Linux community. It’s interesting how similar the Linux community and the Christian community are; both have their purist, proselytizing evangelical sects, and both have their this-works-for-me-and-if-it-works-for-you-too-let’s-all-be-happy sects. I’m in favor of the ones with all the hyphens.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:08:34 +0000

After reading the latest update, my suspicions are even stronger that this is in whole or in part a hoax.

By: ubuntu_n00b

ubuntu_n00b — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:11:28 +0000

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/character-assasinations-aint-us.html

A new blog posting about the incident. There was a lot more to the teachers story. Still not excusable, but at least it makes sense now.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:46:04 +0000

@themcp
Yeah, that’s pretty much my feeling about it. It looks like a cheap ploy to get more traffic to Ken Starks’ blog. If he wrote something civil back, it wouldn’t be as much of an attention-getter.

@Tallken
Thanks for reading!

By: Tallken

Tallken — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:41:21 +0000

Well… I like your blog ’cause well… You analyze things well. Thanks for posting the post (lol @ redundance), it is an eye-opener, hasn’t thought of it like that but I agree with you.

By: themcp

themcp — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:33:42 +0000

the whole story is weird… i have similar doubts about its authenticity. but whatever. if it is true, the entire exchange represents a huge missed opportunity. and starks response is a great example of the kind of techie elitism that turns people off.

i guess a blog post that consisted of “i got an inflammatory email from a teacher. I sent a polite but firm response and we had a spirited but civil exchange. We didn’t agree in the end, but I think we both learned a little bit about each other.” that probably wouldn’t have been picked up by slashdot, right?

also, scapegoating the teachers union is beyond ridiculous.

i was a computer teacher in a past life, and a member of the union. nobody ever even mentioned which operating system was the “preferred” option. there was no union line on that matter that i was aware of. i introduced Linux in several places in our school system, and NEA agents in dark glasses never came to take away my membership card. i was congratulated by my peers for saving money and reusing old hardware.