File this under the “bullshit” category: Schools in Pinellas County, Florida will be switching from Macs to “Personal Computers” for stupid reasons (aside from the fact that they apparently do not realize that Macs are personal computers too).
One teacher is quoted stating “With PCs, the kids should get more computer time” and “I usually like to work with PCs, with Window [sic] because you’re not limited as much.” To quote further from the article, “Teacher Tenishela Barganier says she remembers being nervous about the switch at first, but thinks personal computers are a better tool for teaching students.”
And this from the District’s IT manager: “…the only significant cost factor will be paying two different staffs to maintain the two systems.”
I understand the basic concept behind the switch, but I don’t agree with giving a false impression that Macs are somehow inferior, when it’s more likely that the School District’s IT staff is simply incompetent.
Comments
11 responses to “Schools Switching from Macs to “Personal Computers””
how else do you expect IT people to maintain there jobs.
only by complicating it all do they have job security..
Do they even bother to edit their articles before they post them to the web? How ridiculous is it to have TYPOS in a published work, especially with a word (trademarked word at that) so common as Windows?
And the worst thing is that some stupid PC sites are going to pick up this article, then write their own article documenting the side-effects of working with Macs in education, however made-up those may be.
Hey, when’s webgraph.com gonna be rockin’?
Yea, my school recently switched from Apples to “personal computers” too. Dells, to be exact. It is quite ridiculous, seeing that the district has been using Apples since the personal computer (not to be confused with “personal computer”) was introduced.
ak: Agreed. John Gruber sums up that mindset in this article.
Mike: The typos cracked me up too. I think it’s fair to say that the research behind this article was about as thorough as the proof reading…
webgraph.com has undergone another redesign (it’s terrible when so many iterations never see the light of day…) and is at a point where I’m happy with it. We’re actually looking for a good copywriter to help flesh out the text (since I abhor writing promotional copy, though I can edit to beat the band…) and a few case studies, and we’ll be ready.
They wrote: MacIntosh with the capital “I”…
Emilio: That’s what clinched it for me. Either very poor reporting is to blame, or an editor who should be fired.
Dan: And you are not reading the italian press: online, magazines, newspapers.
“Articles” like this are “standards”.
:(
http://daringfireball.net/2003/08/good_times.html
i subscribe to the point of view that macs are easier to maintain than pcs, but by buying pcs the it staff assures their own job security.
Guys, big deal. Enough about the typos… It’s stupid… Stupid like the fact that most geeks think that the path to enlightened geekdom requires you to hate on Microsoft and Billy here… Whereis, every company makes mistakes, and you need to be an agressive player in this world market… BIG DEAL!
But to the point… Yea most ‘kidz think that Macs “suck” … I quote… From about fifty teenagers… Billion… Teenagers… And I’m still the only guy in my school who knows how to handle, love, enjoy, and USE a Mac…
Hey, I agree that Mac OS 9 and below weren’t as … Hmm, simple enough for those idiotic teenagers to use… But then again, when I ask them if they’ve even gotten a glimpse of Mac OS X, and they say ,”NO! MACS SUCK!” … And I reply,
“Yea, I’ve seen Mac OS X… Don’t go see it for yourself… Macs suck… A lot!” and they say “Yea, your cool now” …
LOL… My sarcasm can fool the idiotic of idiotic teenagers… Gee wiz… How our world turns…
OH YEA… And MACS ARE EASIER TO MAINTAIN… The newest ones are… Even when compared to XP… But then again, the point still winds down to the fact that most schools have Mac OS 9 and old, outdated systems… Cheers.
Why not Impersonal Computers… you know… they never call, don’t even know your name… they refer to you as HUMAN 1 HUMAN 2 etc… ya know how about this Artificial intelligence stuff… why isn’t there MORE research on artificial STUPIDITY!! And another thing, why do I need to stick disks INTO my computer, why not have the darn thing create a death grip suction action, and PULL THE DAMN THING IN ITSELF!!! IT’S ALL AN OUTRAGE!!! WHY IS up UP! Couldn’t that be DOWN all along, and we’re just calling it by the WRONG NAME, but the guy that NAMED it – well – he’s all COOL about it, and all that crap!!
“because you’re not limited as much”
As “ignorant” as she may be she’s right. Just because you say your computer never breaks doesn’t mean it can do as much. Macs are computing appliances. Built for people that can’t fix thier computer when something goes wrong. My computer may break but at least I can fix mine. I can also make it better and 100% customized to me and MY needs.