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Guest Columnist
How schools are tricked into using PCs--when Macs are better

Guest Columnist
AnchorDesk
Monday, February 11, 2002
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Editor's note: AnchorDesk is pleased to present guest columnist Bob Shier. A public school educator for more than 30 years, Shier lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area.

If you'd like to be a guest columnist for AnchorDesk too, see instructions on how to submit an essay at the bottom of this page.

As an instructor of computer literacy in an all-Windows environment, I'm sometimes asked "would I ever consider using a Mac?" My answer: in a heartbeat!

So why am I teaching on Windows machines? Two reasons: peer pressure (we all accept that adolescents are slavishly conformist, but don't always recognize that the herd instinct is still present among adults), and false economies.

OFTEN, "fiscal responsibility" is cited as the reason to choose Windows over Macs. I suggest that there are two kinds of economy involved here: an out-of-the-box economy, and a down-the-road economy.

Of course, schools buy the cheapest boxes they can find--we're taxpayer funded, after all. Windows machines can be purchased for a somewhat lower initial investment.

Almost at once, however, the down-the-road aspect of the platform decision comes into play.

Here's my historical perspective.

FOR TEN YEARS, our school had an all-Mac lab. After a couple of years, they weren't as flashy as the new PCs in other district labs. But they kept chugging along year after year, doing exactly what we asked.

I did all hardware and software support as well as maintenance on the Macs, which amounted to cleaning the mice a couple of times a year and wiping off a monitor screen now and then.

Now that we have an all-Windows environment, I'm lucky to ever have more than 28 out of 30 machines functioning at any one time. Often less. I've started secretly hoping that some students will be sick from school during each class, just so nobody has to do without.

Regardless of how often technical-support people come, or how many things they fix, more problems show up as soon as they leave. If it's not bad memory, it's bad power supplies. If it's not bad motherboards, then it's bad hard drives. And when it's none of those, it's a software glitch that nobody has a clue how to fix.

For the tech support people, the time lag between my reporting a problem and its resolution may seem a minor matter. However, the phrase "mission critical" takes on new meaning as each new crop of impatient, exuberant, and hormonally enhanced adolescents enters my room each period.

THE TOTAL AMOUNT of staff time required just to keep these machines functional is an order of magnitude higher than what we experienced with the Macs. It almost defies belief.

Worse, the false economy of PCs is mostly buried under a ton of paper somewhere in the yearly budget document. In our case, personnel costs come from an entirely different piece of the budget pie than computer hardware.

Along with the false economy with Windows, I also can't find any real academic reason to go with the platform.

Over the past dozen or so years, PCs blanketed businesses everywhere and adults became more technologically comfortable. And parents started telling me to replace my Macs with PCs.

Their admonitions and opinions were not based upon any analysis of the efficiency and efficacy of computers in an educational environment. Rather, it was simply whatever they were using at work and whatever machine their friends had.

THE PARENTAL DEMAND that we teach kids to use "what's out there" is well-meant. It's based upon an understandable desire that children should become employable--that they should be able to conform to the prevalent platform of the workplace. The fact that the "prevalent platform" is in a constant state of flux is another matter entirely.

I'll add that just because you learn to drive in a Ford does not preclude you from eventually driving a Chevy. Same difference with standard productivity applications, such as Microsoft Office, which is available across platforms. But then, any general operation in a Mac application will be much the same in comparable Windows software, even if the exact machinations necessary to effect a result are slightly different.

For simple elegance of design, ease of use, and economy of operation, there's simply no comparison between the two platforms. If you want to work for the machine, go with Windows. If you want the machine to work for you, go with the Mac.

And that's what I really want for my students.

Do you think Macs are better suited for educational institutions? Or should they stick with PCs? TalkBack to me.

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