Xref: utzoo misc.education:913 comp.edu:3544
Newsgroups: misc.education,comp.edu
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!mks.com!chris
From: chris@mks.com (Chris Retterath)
Subject: Re: Setting directions
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 14:14:33 GMT
Message-ID: <1990Sep11.141433.19055@mks.com>
Organization: Mortice Kern Systems, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Reply-To: chris@mks.com (Chris Retterath)
References: <283@bdofed.UUCP>

In article <283@bdofed.UUCP> bob@bdofed.UUCP (n) writes:
>We have an IBM 4381 running mainframe stuff, two AT&T 3B2s running
>office automation and a collection of PCs and MACS. The school
>systems are based on Unix, Pick, DOS and MACS. Yup, quite a collection.

Yes, quite a collection. 

When I lived in Etobicoke, I complained to this board
about the high tax bill for schools, and about its rate of increase,
which was > 12% per year when inflation was around 8%.

No wonder our taxes were so high, given the poor choices in h/w and s/w you
guys bought. An IBM 4381 for crying out loud! Slow, and expensive.  Plus the
admin overhead of the school board. Plus the slimey admin types I talked to
whenever I phoned to complain re: the school tax; nice to know all those
well-padded seats were filled, no?

Working for small companies that get 10X the work done on machines
costing 1/10 to 1/100 the price, it sure burned me up to get my property
tax bill from you people. I'm glad I left Etobicoke.

>We are trying to standardize on a direction for school systems.
>We have proposals ranging from a local lan in each school to one BIG
>central machine and terminals at the office and the schools.

Don't bother, in my opinion. Schools don't need computers. They need
better teachers, better equipment, and more competition. The admin overhead
of a single high school could be done with a few PCs. One fax machine
for ~$2000.00 would be better then a computer network.

And your "need to standardize" just shows the central admin style philosophy
of the school board. Why standardize on purchases when every school is
different, and has different need? Why centralize everything? You won't
see massive economies of scale unless you start buying thousands of
machines, which I think you don't need anyway.

Remember when the schools all went 'A/V' crazy? (A/V == Audio/Visual).  Lots
of new 16mm movie projectors. Even a VTR for recording in some schools.
Lots of big colour TVs in a central pool.  And of course a 'A/V maintenance
type' on staff, to keep the machines working. Lots of bright promises. Did
it ever deliver?

	Chris Retterath
	MKS Inc