Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!BRL.MIL!abc
From: abc@BRL.MIL (Brinton Cooper)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Apples & Education
Message-ID: <8908102114.aa25357@SMOKE.BRL.MIL>
Date: 11 Aug 89 01:14:35 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33


 Marquis Eugene Jones  writes:

> Everbody [sic] knows that Apple II's are used very widely in secondary level
> and lower education, right?  Wrong!
>...
>   Having a little kid
> working on a mac doesn't bother me.  What bothers me is that this day care
> center is at Apple HQ in Cupertino!  It seems very hypocritic of Apple to
> push Apple II's to educational sites, touting how great it is for education,
> while internally 'Macinizing' toddlers. 

	Apple doesn't "push" anything to educational sites; at least not
around here.  There are about a dozen Apple II-class machines in each of
our public elementary schools.  The local Catholic schools, too, use
Apple II machines since they often attend workshops with public school
teachers.  

	The sale of Apple II machines here is "demand pull."  When the
systems' Computer Committee, an individual teacher, or a local PTA
purchase a computer for the elementary school, nothing
but a II (usually a IIe or IIc) is even considered.

	On the other hand, one must recognize that the II won't last
forever.  How many CP/M machines are sold today?  How much new software
is developed for them?  At some point, more powerful machines with more
memory, and improved sensory I/O will be the norm.  Remember that
Apple's competetor in the school market is IBM!  It makes no sense to
compare even a IIGS with a 386-class PC.  IBM has made heavy inroads at
the high school level here.  Surely Apple feels the breath on their
necks and must stake out their territory carefully.

_Brint