Entry #17 Drugs .... Maybe .... Linux .... NO!

Tech Humor

While in high school did you ever have something snatched from you by a teacher that managed to sneak up behind you with out warning. Well then you can imagine the invasion this student felt after a teacher confiscated a set of free distributions of Linux from the student as if they were drugs. After confiscating the disk the teacher then wrote an email to the Linux group supping the disks and stated,

"...observed one of my students with a group of other children gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating the disks I called a conference with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal."

Then after claim the actions of the student and group were illegal she threatens to charge them illegally distributing software because as the teacher puts it,

"No software is free"

She continues to go on and claim that she tried Linux while at collage which by her ignorance I can only assume she tried DOS or Unix and would not know the difference.

"I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods."

The sad part about this email and the although not stated punishment of the student, is a clear example of an education system that is not well informed of the actual world outside of its own diminishing schools system.

The bright point to this story is the group the teacher contacted was able to set up a meeting with her and the principle and I hope that this teacher will be put in her place and the student giving back the disks that the student rightfully owns.

Although I did not include the entire email here or the response to that email I encourage everyone to read the email and response in its entirety as it made me chuckle at the ignorance some people have.

Linux - Stop holding our kids back